FreeBird
by ladykaydee
Summary: Jason has been gone for three years. As hard as it was, Sam has finally moved on with the most unexpected man in Port Charles. Her life with him and Danny seem to be going great but what happens when Robin calls Patrick with life changing news?
1. Prologue

**FreeBird**

_Prologue_

Patrick shuffled through the thick duvet blanket on his bed and reached for the cell phone next to the lamp on his nightstand. He felt around blindly until his hand covered the vibrating device and he pulled it to his face, squinting as he tried to recognize the number. Giving up, he decided to answer. It was three in the morning so it had to be important-or a wrong number. Which would definitely be annoying.

"Hello…" He answered sleepily.

"Honey? Patrick? It's Robin!" She said urgently.

It seemed as though her voice was slightly breaking up and his mind had to take a few moments to process what was going on. "Robin? What's going on? Are you okay?" He hadn't heard from her in almost six months. She'd found a way to sneak a call to him around the middle of June to tell him that she loved him and Emma and that she wouldn't be able to talk to him again for a while. He didn't question her too much, he was used to asking very few questions and just anticipating the day that he would see her again.

"Yes, yes, everything is fine." She paused to sigh in relief. "Patrick, I have good news."

"You're coming home." He stated rather than asked.

"I am." She confirmed cheerily. "And I'm coming home with Jason."

As much as he resented Jason for taking Robin away from him and Emma, he instantly felt sympathy for the guy when he heard that he was coming home. If he thought he was coming home to the family that he'd left behind, he had another think coming. Sam was a very good friend of his. She'd gotten him through a lot of hardships and rough times and he knew that he should've told her that Jason was still alive on an island in a lab somewhere, but he didn't have the heart to break her down again and send her back to square one. A place that had taken all of her strength to crawl out of.

Sam was happy now. He'd just had lunch with her last week and she was glowing, she couldn't stop smiling and she was finally at peace with the fact that Jason wasn't coming back. She'd never say out loud that he was "dead" but he knew that she felt that he was in her heart. And he remembered exactly when she had finally accepted that in May, when she finally found the courage to move on and get remarried.

"Patrick?" Robin sounded confused by his lack of enthusiasm.

"When? When are you guys coming?" He was excited beyond belief that his wife was coming back to him, though.

"We should be there in a couple of days." She sounded on the verge of tears. "Don't tell Emma, I want to surprise her."

"Okay." He smiled, tears almost springing to his eyes, too.

"And don't tell Sam. Jason wants to surprise her, too." She gushed excitedly.

He felt uneasy about that. "Robin, I don't think I can do that."

"What? Why not?" She questioned.

"Because...Sam got married again." He told her hesitantly.

"What?" Robin was shocked by the news. "Who did she marry?" She whispered.

With a deep sigh, Patrick finally sat up in his bed. "Johnny."

* * *

Sam rushed to the bathroom again, closing and locking the door in one swift movement. She hunched over the toilet as the entire contents of her dinner fell into the blue water. Heaving softly, Sam wiped at her mouth with her hand and stood upright, walking across the bathroom to the mirror after flushing it. She felt tired, extremely tired and so sick for the last few days. After washing her hands, she cupped water between them and threw it over her face, trying to cool the heat that had been looming on her skin. More than ever, she knew these symptoms. All she needed to do was confirm her suspicions with the test she'd bought yesterday.

Three soft knocks sounded at the door. "Babe, are you okay?"

She cleared her throat. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just feel a little queasy. Must have been the calamari."

"You sure?" He asked.

"Yep." She answered, faking her best nonchalant voice. When she heard him walk away, she bent down and opened the cabinets under the sink, reaching to the back and pulling out the big box that she'd stuffed in the back. Her eyes skimmed over the front of it and sighed as she made her way to the toilet for the second time. She pulled her pajama shorts and panties down and plopped on the toilet, ripping the box open ruthlessly.

She knew the drill. She'd done this too many times to be confused on the instructions. So when she pushed herself to have the urge to pee, she stuck the stick between her legs so that the appropriate part was wet with her urine. When she was done, she placed it on the back of the toilet and grabbed some toilet paper from the wall beside her, wiping properly and discarding the tissue in the toilet. She stood up, pulled her pants up and washed her hands again, watching her face in the mirror.

She had only been married for about seven months. She glanced down at the wedding ring on her finger. It was different than the one Jason had gotten her. This was more gaudy, but still elegant and she had to admit that she loved it. She had been so surprised when he'd got on one knee at the Metro Court and proposed. She hadn't been expecting it or even thinking about being married again. Honestly, she didn't think that she was ready when he'd asked or when she'd said yes. But as time went on and they kept planning and getting closer to the date, she realized that the love she had for Johnny was deep and passionate and it gave her hope that she'd never expected to have again. She knew about thirty minutes before her wedding that she was ready to spend the rest of her life with him.

And he was amazing with Danny, which was the one mandatory thing. Danny had even come to call him Daddy. And at first it hurt her, it cut her like a knife. It made her cry. It would have been a different story if Danny's real father would have just walked out on him and left on purpose but she was sure that wherever Jason was, he had a good reason for being there and she knew that he would never willingly choose to leave them. And he didn't even know that Danny was biologically his, that's what hurt the most. But Johnny told her that it was okay for Danny to call him Daddy for now, if she was fine with it then he was, too. He knew that the little boy needed a father and when he was old enough, he suggested that they tell him the truth. Although it was sad and she wished that Danny could have known his real father, she couldn't help but feel satisfied and thankful at the fact that Danny had the comfort of two loving parents.

"Sam?" He knocked one, solid knock at the door.

"Yeah, Hun?" She answered.

"I'm a little worried. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, babe." She said rushing to the toilet to pick up the test. She swallowed hard at the results.

"Then open the door." He pleaded softly.

Sam walked over to the door and opened it slowly, her lips pressed together. "See," she started as she stepped in front of him, "we're fine."

He waved a hand in her face. "I won't be fine if you don't brush your teeth." He half joked and dodged a swat of her hand. "And what do you mean _we're_ fine?" He was gently laughing at her.

Trying to suppress a smile, she held up the stick. "I'm pregnant!"

His face glazed over with shock. "You're pregnant." He repeated, dumbfounded. "By me." He whispered the last words as he realized what this meant.

She rolled her eyes. "Of course by you, who else?" She chuckled, wrapping her arms around his neck. "You, Johnny Zacchara, are about to have your first child. With me."

He circled his arms around her waist, still trying to process the information. "I can't believe…" He shook his head with a happy laugh before pressing his lips to hers. A few seconds later, he pulled away and gazed into her face, admiring the beautiful woman whom he'd married and now she was carrying his child. "Sam, I love you. I've never loved anyone this much." He whispered to her, kissing her forehead.

She reveled in the feel of his lips against her skin and closed her eyes, hugging him tightly. "I love you, too, Johnny. So much." She gripped him tighter, if that was even possible. "So much." This was the family she'd always wanted.


	2. Chapter 1

First off, thanks for the great reviews guys! I'm flattered that you all liked the Prologue. I was a little iffy about throwing the super unconventional Johnny/Sam out there but I'm happy that you all liked it. But here's a little about me since this is basically my first GH fic.

I am equally a JoSam (Johnny & Sam) and JaSam (Jason & Sam) shipper. I don't know why I'm so obsessed with JoSam seeing as how it never even almost happened, but I've always loved the idea of the two of them being together. With that said, I am not sure what the outcome of this fic will be. At first I thought I would make it JoSam...then I was like, maybe I'll do JaSam...but now I just don't know. I actually have a few JoSam/JaSam triangle fics in the works and I don't know what the end looks like from here. Like I said, I adore both couples and in the end of my fics it will be just random last minute, but that doesn't mean that the characters will not go on a hell of a triangle ride. I think that this triangle makes a lot more sense than the whole JaSam/Liason thing which makes me gag all the time.

Now to clear up the plot of the story a little, everything happened up until Jason "died" except the Johnny/Carly pairing. I just had to get that out of there…

I do not own any of these characters...

**FreeBird**

_Chapter One_

She woke up in a cold sweat, a searing pain in her stomach and her first reaction was, _no, not again. _All she wanted was a normal pregnancy, to go the full nine months without a single complication, but she was sure right now that that would probably not be the case. She couldn't sit upright, the pain inside of her was crippling and intense. She heard a strangled cry tear from somewhere within her and she realized that she was calling for the man beside her. Her body washed over with chills as he moved around to face her.

"Sam," he was worried from the sound of his voice, "Sam, what's the matter?"

"I don't know." She croaked, gripping onto his arm. Her other hand clutched protectively over her belly. "Johnny, take me to the hospital, now."

"Alright." He was up in an instant, snatching the blankets from over top of her when he saw the small spots of blood beneath her. His eyes widened in shock and fear. "You're bleeding."

She cried, the sound was loud and echoed in the room. "Oh my god, not again." She mumbled through tears. The rest was a blur for her. She remembered bits and pieces. She knew that he'd carried her to the car and briefly ran back inside to get Danny, who was still asleep. He'd quickly strapped the boy into his carseat with a sippy cup and was off to the hospital in record time-or at least it felt like record time to her.

She'd been seated in a wheelchair from outside by a few nurses as Johnny followed behind with Danny asleep on his shoulder. The tall man urgently ran through the events of what had happened. A few days ago, she found out she was pregnant on a home pregnancy test and four days later, she woke up bleeding and crying in pain, which led her to General Hospital at almost five o'clock in the morning.

The only steady thing she heard now was the beeping of the machine somewhere around her. She wanted to open her eyes but she felt too tired to even give it a try. She was worried about her unborn child. She wanted it, more than anything. She'd always dreamed of a big family, she had never imagined that it would be so hard. Couldn't she just have one pregnancy that was normal?

She felt a warm hand cover hers and her eyes slowly opened to the sight of her worried husband. He looked like he was tired and restless and his eyes seemed like they were itching to be wet with tears. But Johnny always held it together. His brows were furrowed and when he saw her look at him, she saw the relief wipe over his face.

"God…" He breathed the word and kissed her hand. "I was scared to fucken death."

She attempted to clear her throat. "Where's Danny?" She sounded sleepy and talked in slow motion.

"He's with Monica." Quickly, he kissed her hand again.

"How long have I been here?" She asked lightly.

"About six hours. Not too long."

She nodded softly and her eyes filled with tears as she asked the horrifying question. "Did...did I lose my baby?" Her chin trembled as she asked him and she tried to fight it, but it was useless as her face scrounged in agony.

He shook his head vehemently, the sight of her almost bringing tears to his own eyes. But instead he gave her a gentle, crooked smirk, hoping that he could lighten up the mood. "Of course you didn't lose our baby. He's a Zacchara. He's not going out that easy."

She froze a moment, holding in a breath as if to take in what he said and then sighed in relief, happy tears falling as she got the strength to cover their intertwined hands with her other one. "Oh my god. I was so scared, I thought for sure..."

"Shhh," he ordered, pushing hair out of her face, "No, our baby is still in there. He's going to be just fine." He promised, rubbing her hand caringly.

"Or she." She offered with a sheepish grin.

"Or she." He relented with a smile. "Patrick just said that you were supposed to consult with your doctor before getting pregnant again. The damage to your uterus from before needs to be examined before every pregnancy. Just to make sure, you know, that you'll be able to have the baby to full term."

She looked slightly worried again. "And what happened? Did they examine me? Am I not able to have another child?"

"No, no," he scooted closer to her, "you're only about five weeks. So, you're early enough in the pregnancy where they can just go in there and do the surgery. Everything's gonna be fine. I promise."

"So, I have to have surgery?" She looked worried still.

"It's minor. In fact, its so minor that Patrick said you can go home right after it's over and I can take care of you all night." He winked and then kissed her hand again to assure her. "You'll be fine. Both of you."

She stared at him and saw that he didn't look worried or like he was hiding the truth from her. She knew his lying look and this wasn't it. "Okay." She trusted and believed him with her whole heart. "Are you going to be here?"

"Where else would I be?" He said lovingly, reaching up to rub a hand against her cheek.

She turned her head to kiss the inside of his hand and closed her eyes, reveling in the loving touch. Who would have ever thought that Johnny Zacchara could be tamed? He was a wildcard, erratic and impulsive. Nothing could calm him down, at least that was what she'd been told. But he didn't scare her and he didn't intimidate her. His recklessness was nothing new for her to deal with. She could handle him and he was gentle towards her. They connected in a way that she had never connected with anyone. The trouble childhood that they had both had was something that they had often compared and shared with each other. Parts that they had never confided in anyone they could tell to each other and the other seemed to understand.

Patrick knocked two light times on the opened door and smiled when they both looked at him. Though the gesture didn't reach his eyes, he knew only one of the two could tell. Sam could read him like an open book. He cleared his throat and looked away from her knowing eyes.

"Johnny, could you um...could you give us a minute?" She asked her husband kindly. "I need to talk to Patrick for second."

He was curious, but he nodded immediately. "Of course. I'll go check on Danny." He rubbed the top of her head as he stood up and leaned down to softly kiss her forehead. She put a hand to his cheek and they met in a soft kiss before he reluctantly pulled away. He smirked at her and gave her hand one last kiss before letting go.

"You know, Danny can come in and see you before you go to surgery." Patrick told her. He knew she'd want that.

"Oh good." She seemed relieved and looked to Johnny. "Will you bring him to me?"

"Yeah. I'll be right back." Stuffing his hands in his pajama pockets, he trekked out of the door, closing it to leave the two of them alone.

When she heard the click, she immediately looked worried again. "Patrick, tell me, please. What's wrong? Is my baby okay?"

"Sam, nothing is wrong with the baby. You're fine." He comforted her, moving to sit where Johnny had just been sitting. He swallowed hard as he sat his clipboard on her legs.

She searched his face with frantic brown eyes. "Then why do you look like that? Why do you look so concerned?"

He looked down at his lap. "I just...I've been...I've been keeping something from you." He said the last part quickly and then looked up to see if she'd even heard him.

"Keeping what?" She couldn't take much more of this hesitation. "Patrick, tell me." She grabbed his hand to encourage him. "I'm sure if it's not about my baby being in danger than I can handle it."

He gave her a long, sad look before shaking his head helplessly. "Robin is...on some island. She was working on something big and now she's done."

Her eyes widened and she looked genuinely happy for him. "So she's coming back? Oh my god, Patrick, that's great. When?"

"Any day now." He sighed and looked away from her again.

She frowned at him. "You know, I imagined you looking a little happier when this all went down." She patted his hand and shook it to make him look up at her, then she smiled. "Are you scared? Is this not what you want?"

"Of course it's what I want. I have never wanted anything more." He stressed, squeezing her hand. He looked up at her and a pained expression adorned his face. "It's just...who she's coming with that…" He trailed off. This was harder than he thought it would be.

Sam thought she understood. "Oh my god, did she meet someone?" She asked incredulously.

"No, no," he clarified quickly. "But she went there...she went there because Victor Cassadine...he…"

"Patrick, just say it." She urged.

He stared at her and for a long time he was quiet. She looked so happy, she was right where she wanted to be and if he thought that Jason would give up and let her go, he probably wouldn't be sitting here right now about to tell her this. He was torn though, because he knew that she'd never lie to him. Sam had always wanted the best for him and she would always do right by him. He couldn't keep this from her any longer, the words finally ripped out of him like they had been contained for ages.

"He has Jason." He whispered quietly. "She went there to save Jason's life."

Sam stared blankly at him, not sure if she'd heard what she thought she heard. She shook her head, trying to clear it from the confusion it was going through. Her mouth opened to speak but she couldn't produce any words, so she closed it again and just kept her eyes squinted at him, prepared for him to admit that this was some cruel joke and he was just an insensitive bastard.

"So...Jason's alive?" She finally said after several minutes of silence.

Patrick nodded. "Yeah. Jason's alive."

"And," he chin twitched lightly, "and he's coming here?" She pointed down to her lap with her free hand and her voice changed at the end.

He nodded again. "Uh huh."

Her eyes stubbornly watered. "You knew that he was alive since she left...and you never told me?" Her voice faded halfway through the sentence and she covered her mouth, trying to hold back a sob. Her face showed how confused she was with him.

His eyes watered as well. "Sam, I just...I saw you, okay? You were happy and you were doing so good. You were moving on with your life and I didn't want you to just leave all that progress behind for something that may or may not have been real. I mean, I moved on and I got Robin back and then I lost her again. I watched Emma go through that _again. _It tore me apart inside, I was bitter and angry and hurt all the time." He looked pained as she closed her eyes. "You saw me, Sam. And I...I love you. You have become one of the only people I can talk to and trust and I want good things for you. I was trying to protect you from the hurt that I'd gone through again." He explained, his voice wavering as he gripped her hand tighter. "You _and_ Danny…"

"But that was my choice, Patrick!" Her voice rose and she snapped her mouth closed to compose herself. When she was much more calm, she continued. "I would've gone to look for him. I could've…"

"What? Taken Danny on the search with you? Or leave him behind?" He asked in an incriminating tone. "Because neither of those options are good options and you know."

She stared at him tearfully before pulling her hand away. "That wasn't your choice."

"You moved on. You came back from all the hurt that you had been feeling and you did the right thing. I didn't want to take you away from all of that." He continued to passionately argue his piece.

"I know, but…" She was almost at a loss for words.

He leaned forward and pressed his lips together, trying to plead with his friend. "Sam, I was just trying to protect you." His jaw muscles flexed as he impatiently waited for her to forgive him.

"Well, you didn't." She told him sternly.

Apologetically, he dropped his head. "Sam…"

"Please, just leave." She held a hand up to him when he tried to speak again. "Just go."

Respecting her wishes, he nodded. "Okay." He slowly stood up and walked to the door before turning around. "I'll be back to prep you for the surgery in about an hour."

"Okay." She replied without even looking his way.

Sadly, he watched her wipe the tears from her face before walking out of the room.

* * *

Sam clapped her hands together and laughed exaggeratedly at her son as he held his palms out to her. She high fived him lightly on each hand and he giggled a lot, falling back as she leaned over him, tickling his neck and stomach. He laughed until he could barely breath and she leaned back, smiling at his happiness. He really was the best thing that had ever happened to her.

"Mommy!" He screamed joyfully, putting his hands up in the air.

She grabbed his hands. "Okay, Daddy's turn. Mommy's tired." She breathed and sat back as Johnny leaned over her and grabbed the little boy, sitting him on his lap.

"Alright, ready?" He asked Danny.

Danny nodded vehemently, already laughing before Johnny clapped his hands together. "Go!" He yelped, clapping his small hands together, too.

"One, two, three," he clapped his hands into Danny's in succession with his counting. After a while, he suddenly stopped and gasped before attacking Danny with tickles all over his body.

Danny giggled wildly and Sam watched from her seat beside them as the boy stretched across Johnny's lap, out of breath. Johnny stopped and they watched him yawn and rub his eyes. Sam gasped dramatically. "Uh oh, someone's sleepy."

"Noooooo." He shook his head and sat up. "I'm not sleepy."

"Yeah you are, buddy." Johnny told him, ruffling his blondish hair all over his head and gaining a laugh from the boy as he tried to swat his hand away. "I'll tell you what. I'll read you three whole nighttime stories if you tell me the truth."

Danny's little face seemed to consider this before he nodded once. "Okay Daddy, I am a little sleepy."

Sam and Johnny laughed as he clutched onto Johnny's neck. "I knew it." Sam pinched his cheek playfully. "Daddy's gonna put you to bed now, okay?"

"Can you come, too?" He asked her.

Before Sam could reply, Johnny softly grabbed the little boy's face and nuzzled his nose with his. He smelled like baby soap and lotion and Johnny had never known that he would fall in love with that smell so much. Danny was his pride and joy. Hearing his laughter was almost like proof that the world wasn't always a terrible place.

"We're going to leave Mommy down here because she's tired and the doctor told her to lay down all day if she wants to get better." He knudged the little boy when he didn't seem fully convinced. "We have more fun without her, anyway." Sam playfully swatted him and the boys laughed.

Danny seemed to accept that answer and he nodded and Sam leaned in to kiss his cheek. She was exhausted and didn't know if she could actually walk up the stairs right now. "I love you, honey."

"Love you, Mommy." He said as Johnny stood up from the couch, carrying the small boy. "Daddy, can I pick all three bedtime stories?!" He asked excitedly.

"Not all three." He joked around as he made it to the stairs. "Maybe one or two."

"Please? Pretty please, Daddy?" He begged.

Johnny seemed to think about it. "Ah, I guess so." He relented like he always did when it came to the little guy.

"Yes!" The boy exclaimed before the rest of their conversation disappeared up the stairs and down the hall.

Sam closed her eyes and leaned back, resting on the couch like she had been doing all day. She was tired, hungry, but most of all she was stressed out and didn't know how she was going to tell Johnny that Jason was probably going to be back in Port Charles any day now. God, how could Patrick not have told her? This changed nothing. Or maybe it changed everything. She would have never gotten to know Johnny the way she did had if it had not been for the disappearance of Jason. But would she have needed to get to know him if Jason had never left? Of course, she needed him in her life. She didn't know how she felt about this. She needed Johnny. Without him, she didn't understand what her life would be like. He was a part of her now. A part of who she was. A big part of the reason she'd healed from the loss of her first husband.

And she knew that right now, she felt like nothing could come between her and Johnny. They fit together so perfectly but she was almost afraid to lay eyes on Jason again. Every time she did, she remembered the rush of feelings that always took her over. The urgency to feel his arms around her or the high she got when he whispered sweet things into her ear that no one had ever heard him say. She remembered the way he would stare at her right before he kissed her, a million thoughts running through his mind and she would have killed just to hear one.

But her and Johnny, they'd been a whirlwind of romance that no one had ever saw coming. He was a loud, rude mouth lush and she was reserved and depressed from the loss of her husband. After connecting, they'd both brought out the best in each other and craved the other almost unhealthily. They were passionate and steady and being in love with him was like doing drugs or facing your fear of heights for the first time. Just the touch of his hand against her skin could send her spiraling into an out of control state that only he could pull her from. He used to worry about being her rebound. Her "Jason away from Jason" as Maxie insensitively would call it. But with all of their similarities, they were completely different people to her and she simply could not compare the two when it came to why she loved them. While currently, she was only in love with one.

Jason had always been gentle with her. Gentle, caring, he was good but misguided and she never wanted him any other way. He was troubled and comfortable with the fact that it had subsequently led him to where he had been for the last years of his life. A street smart enforcer with the sharpest skills that many had ever seen. He was mostly business and he apologized for that numerous times. She had been the first woman in his life, but when it came down to it, his business was first and she totally understood that and would never complain. But that's where Johnny was a different story.

He enjoyed the mob now, because she had been okay with the idea of raising kids in this lifestyle. He'd been the one with all the reservations about it. At first, he had been skeptical that she could even handle it but when he realized that she could, he'd been skeptical about openly having her in his life. He never wanted to get married or invite children into his hell hole, that was something only meant for him but the thought of living without her started to seem impossible and he voiced that to her, also offering to drop everything a move to a different country. After profusely telling him that she saw no problem with this lifestyle, he promised her that it would never come before her or Danny and she could never talk him out of that. He was still involved in the mob and was highly respected and feared since Sonny had left town. Johnny basically took over, stepping higher than the Jerome's, too. But he didn't need it and he never would need this life as much as he needed her.

"You should eat something."

He snapped her out of her thoughts and she opened her eyes, smiling at him as he descended the stairs. "I know."

He sat down after lifting her feet and replacing them on his legs. "Do you want anything in particular?"

"A gin and tonic." She smiled as he rolled his eyes. "I don't know, maybe a sandwich or something." He leaned to get up but she stopped him. "Johnny, wait."

"What's wrong?" He asked casually, thinking maybe she'd changed her mind about the sandwich.

She stared at him for a moment before sighing heavily. She always sure that she could tell him anything. That was how they'd bonded so easily. Despite what the Port Charles rumormill had to say about the bad boy, he was easy to talk to and she knew that she didn't have to hesitate much when confessing something to him. That eased her and she relaxed at the look in his warm but questioning eyes. "Jason's alive."

He was visibly caught off guard and shook his head a little. "What?"

"Yeah. Patrick told me today that Robin's been off trying to save his life all this time and…I guess she succeeded." She propped herself on her elbows while looking at him. "And they're on their way back here. To Port Charles."

He swallowed and then looked away before nodding. "Okay." He answered easily.

"Okay? That's it?" She smiled.

"I love you. And you love me, right?" When she nodded, he shrugged. "So then what could go wrong?"

She smiled brightly, flattered by the confidence he was pretending to have. "Nothing at all."

"Exactly. Nothing. At all." He smiled, probably with a little too much force and then got up to make her a sandwich. "I'll be right back with that sandwich." He had to get away from her before he screamed. How could this be happening?! He rushed into the kitchen and pulled out a bottle of Scotch he'd hidden at the top of the cabinet. He opted to forget the cup and drunk straight from the bottle, the burn almost taking his mind from the news that had burned him just moments ago.

He wasn't ready for this. He loved Sam and he couldn't lose her. She'd saved him from himself. Albeit, he was still in the mob but more than ever he was able to embrace that because she did. She loved him just as much as she would've if he wasn't apart of the Zacchara organization and that warmed him to the core. Sam was understanding, she loved him no matter what. In every situation, she always saw the good in him. She had successfully convinced him that he was a good person. She gave him someone to come home to and talk about his day without holding back any gory details. She could handle his life and he never wanted this comfortable state to leave him. He took another long swig before hiding it back at the top of the cabinet and then moved along with making her a sandwich.

He was almost done when the doorbell rang. He licked the mustard from his fingers and called to her that he would answer it before jogging the lengthy distance to the front door. He briefly checked a clock on the wall and wondered who could be coming to his house at this hour. He swung the door open and cocked a brow at the person behind it, feeling a bit relieved that it wasn't who had been so callously on his mind for the past five minutes.

"Patrick?"

"Hey, Johnny. Can I talk to Sam? It's really important." He rubbed his hands against his jeans.

Johnny nodded after a short wait and moved to the side. "Yeah, sure, go ahead. She's in the living room."

"Thanks." He smiled gratefully and nearly ran to the living room where he caught his friend flipping through channels on the TV. When she saw him, she looked alarmed as she leaned up.

"Patrick? What's wrong?" She was still angry with him but the alert look on his face was scaring her.

He let out a breath and felt the presence of Johnny come behind him. He glanced at her husband before giving her a strained grimace. "He's here. They're here. In Port Charles." When she didn't react with a single movement, he stepped a little closer. "Jason's here." When she wordlessly nodded, he kept talking. "He wants to see you."

Her eyes quickly flickered to her husband and then back at Patrick. "Where is he?"

"He's at my house." He looked back at Johnny briefly. "Look, I don't want to come between you two I just didn't want to keep anything else from her."

Johnny didn't answer at all, his jaw stiffened as he slid his hands into the pockets of his slacks and stared at his wife, trying to read her reaction to this whole situation. Trying to gauge what she was actually going to do or say as a response.

Sam sighed. "Let me um, get dressed and I'll go over there with you."

Johnny's face fell sadly but he quickly recovered with a squint of his eyes. "Sam, you're not supposed to be up and about." He told her softly and then looked at Patrick for back up.

"Johnny's right, Sam. You should stay in bed at least for tonight." Patrick came to his aid.

Sam ignored them both as she carefully stood up. "I'll be ready in five minutes." She wasn't going to try the stairs. Instead, she was going to go to the laundry room that wasn't too far away from the living room and pull a sweater out of the dryer. It felt awkward with Johnny watching her and she needed a moment for herself. A moment to grasp what was actually about to happen.

Watching the emotions flicker across his wife's face as she exited the room, Johnny bolted back to the kitchen to get some more of that Scotch.


	3. Chapter 2

Again, thanks for the great reviews! Also, I want to just say that I only watched GH for JaSam so my knowledge on other things that happened and when they happened and what happened are probably going to be altered or fit to my liking. :)

Again, thanks for the awesome reviews! Keep them coming!

**FreeBird**

_Chapter 2_

Patrick shut the car off and sighed, looking over at his friend as she stared at the front door of his house like she'd never seen it before. She walked through that door a million times, majority of those times without knocking but the look on her face proved that it was probably the scariest door she'd ever seen. He wanted to help her, ease her nervousness somehow, he couldn't think of anything that could actually get her mind off of the fate that awaited her inside, but he would try anyway.

"Look, I'm sorry about keeping this from you, Sam. I really am." He admitted softly. He was sorry. Patrick felt horrible, he always had. But he thought he was doing his friend justice by letting her continue to live the life she deserved-the one she'd earned by suffering so many nights in heartache and pain-without knowing that there was a possibility that Jason was still alive. He remembered the mornings he would go over to check on her and Danny and when he would sit next to her and rest his hand on her pillow, it would be drenched with tears and it killed him every time.

"Don't worry about it." Her voice was low and croaky. "I've been thinking about it all day and I understand where you were coming from, Patrick. I mean, you watched me suffer. Why would you want to bring any of that back?" She smiled at him, her eyes gleaming. "I'm just sorry that I blew up at you."

He half shrugged with a small grin. "Ah, forget about it. As long as you forgive me."

With a heavy sigh, she looked back at the door of the house. "I do." She said distractedly.

He grabbed her hand and she looked over at him, her eyes wide as if she was scared that he was trying to rush her. A squeeze of his hand let her know otherwise. "You know, you can always change your mind."

"No. I can't. What about Danny?" Her voice sounded so loud in her hot ears as she thought about her son. He had a chance to finally meet Jason. "He deserves to establish a relationship with his biological father."

Patrick nodded in understanding. "He does. You're right. But what about you? What do you deserve?"

"I deserve to see my son get everything he deserves." She answered stoically before opening the door. Sam had never been scared of much so she wasn't going to start now, she decided, pushing all of her fear behind her.

Patrick quickly climbed out too, closing the car door and watching Sam pull her sweater tighter around her. She was completely under dressed for the cold, November weather. Her hair was careless and blowing loosely in the wind. Her face was a pale white and her cheeks were pinched with the smallest hint of pink. With her arms crossed over her chest she looked over at him with the most helpless look and his heart broke for her. He'd been right here before, precisely in her shoes and they were hard shoes to walk in. But one of the things he'd always admired her for was her strength and he knew that she would get through this.

"You'll be okay." He told her, finally walking towards her.

"I know." She smiled, pushing a piece of her hair behind her ear. "I mean, it's Jason. I don't know why I'm so nervous."

"It's because you remember how you used to feel around Jason. How important he was." He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her to him, kissing the top of her head quickly as she took a deep breath. "Now can you please get out of the cold? Johnny will kill me if you get sick out here."

His name sent a reckless chill through her body. She'd promised him that he was the most important man in her life now. And the truth was, he was the most important man in her life. "I'm ready."

She let him lead her cold, scared, limp body to the front of the house. Half of her felt like she was resisting, the other half felt like she couldn't get there fast enough. They walked carefully up the three stairs to his door and then she grabbed his hand for comfort as he reached for the knob. Her heart began pumping profusely and she almost made him stop in his tracks, but he slowly opened the door and she saw the man that she used to be so devotedly in love with standing near the fireplace. Of course he wouldn't be sitting, she thought to herself. He would never relax after he'd just been only God knows where for the last few years. He would be pacing back and forth, trying to remember every detail so that he could devise a plan to get revenge. Or, he would continue exactly where he left off and retaliate against who shot him...but relax? Jason knew no such thing.

His head snapped to look at her when the door opened and suddenly she couldn't feel Patrick's hand in her's anymore. She couldn't feel the itchy wool of the tattered, black sweater on her bare arms or the cold sting that had been all over her face. Her hot ears seemed to have disappeared and the floor beneath her took off somewhere. The only thing she could feel was the gaze of the piercing blue eyes roaming over her to make sure that she was real.

He seemed taller, he was thinner and he looked older. His hair was overgrown and long. It reminded her of Elizabeth because his hair was that way when he was supposedly in love with her. He had no facial hair, but his eyes seemed a deeper blue and more intense than she recalled. She saw the muscles in his jaw twitch and his eyes continued to sweep over her like she was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. Her cheeks grew hot as she blushed and looked over to where Patrick had been standing but was no longer there. She gazed up through long, dark lashes and nothing could mask the taletelling glint in his eyes that only she could recognize. It told her that he knew that she was married to Johnny and he didn't know how to feel about her or whether he could touch her or not. Because if he hugged her, felt her skin against his, he probably wouldn't remember how to let go and things would get pretty intense.

She swallowed and finally opened her mouth. "Jason…" The name tasted so familiar, like she'd been saying it all the years that she hadn't. The familiarity of it scared her and she brought her hands up to her mouth, covering it in shock.

The corner of his mouth lifted into a small smile when he heard her sigh of relief. Jason's fingers itched to touch her and he realized halfway towards her that she had to be in his arms. He nearly knocked her down, he grabbed her so hard and her arms wrapped around his neck in instant response. Oddly, his skin smelled just as she remembered but it intoxicated her in a way that was now foreign.

Jason felt tears sting his eyes and cruelly realized that he would never give his heart to another woman. He would never be able to. This was for him. Right here, holding her is what he wanted, what he needed to feel like everything surrounding him made sense. He had so much to explain to her, so much he wanted to say but there was no way he could without overstepping his boundaries. Robin had told him hesitantly that Sam was married to Johnny. And to be honest, his first reaction was to kill him. But he knew that if Sam married Johnny it was for good reason. She wasn't going to marry anyone for reasons other than love anymore. He knew her well enough to know that. And he knew that if anything, Johnny was the absolute best with Danny or Sam wouldn't have done it. Jason loved her so much that he couldn't hurt Johnny and destroy that for her-no matter how much he wanted to.

Nuzzling his nose in her hair, she smelled like fruity shampoo and Burberry lotion. Her favorite and he remembered that. His arms wrapped tighter around her and he and let out a breath, feeling himself losing it with her body against his. He wanted to kiss her, he wanted her mouth pressed to his but he knew it was inappropriate so he did the best he could to pry himself away from her.

His hands gripped onto her shoulders as he kept her at arms length so he could get another look at her. She was amazing, she looked exactly as she had when he left except there was something more beautiful, more glowy about her skin and more sparkly about her chestnut eyes.

He gulped and let out a sharp breath while watching her. "I missed you." He knew that there was so much more left for him to say, but he just wanted her to know that right then.

Sam smiled softly with a quick nod. "I missed you, too." Seeing him felt like a dream. A dream that had been all too familiar when he had first gone missing. When imagining the day he came back, it had never been quite like this. She hadn't imagined it in a while.

His eyes moved to her hair and then carefully fell down the length of her for the hundredth time, like he was memorizing every part of her. His mouth opened but the words were delayed. "I...I thought I was never going to see you again."

"So did I." She answered barely above a whisper as his hands slid down to hers and grabbed them gently.

Then all of a sudden his eyes fell down to his shoes, which Robin had gotten him from somewhere on the island. He was sure that she'd stolen them but he wasn't sure from who and he didn't question her about it. "I heard that uh, you and Johnny…"

"Yeah. Yeah." She didn't want to talk about this but obviously he did.

Letting go of one of her hands, he brought it up to her face to cup her cheek and she closed her eyes at the warm touch as memories flooded her. He watched her lashes rest against her cheeks. "Sam, I…"

Her eyes opened slowly and she stared up at him somewhat expectantly. She didn't know what she was expecting him to say or do, but she knew that right now she was frozen in the moment. "What?" She asked with what seemed like the last breath she had in her.

He meant to tell her that he was happy that she was able to move on and he hoped that Johnny was making her happy. He meant to say that he would not try to come between them or get her back and he hoped that she was happy with her son and new husband, then he meant to move his hand from her face and step awa. But that didn't happen and his other hand grabbed the other side of her face as something pulled his mouth toward hers. And just as he brushed his lips slightly against hers, she dropped her head and pulled away, nearly leaping across the room to get away from him.

"You can't do that." She scolded him, wringing her hands together. "You can't kiss me, Jason."

"I know. I know." He clearly regretted it as he looked away from her. "I'm sorry."

"Jason," finally, reality had hit her like a ton of bricks. She was standing there with a man whom she thought she would never see again. "I love you. I don't ever think they'll be a day that I don't, but I'm in love with Johnny." She briefly wondered how weird that was for him to hear. "I don't even think I would be alive right now if it wasn't for him. He saved me." Patrick had, too. The both of them had been there for her.

The words cut him but he showed no sign of it. "I'm happy for you." He said evenly. "And Danny."

"Danny." She repeated his name and closed her eyes, blinking back tears. "God, Jason. He loves Johnny so much and...and I never expected this."

"Of course you didn't." Hesitantly, he stepped closer. "Neither of us did." He put his hands together in front of him, hoping to keep them occupied so that they wouldn't wander off and touch her against his will.

She crossed her arms over her chest, shielding herself from him and then looking away when she felt guilty for the gesture. "Jason, I'm happy that you're alive. I am." Sniffing and pushing hair behind her ear, "I just, I had to come by to tell you something that you were never able to hear yourself."

His brow creased in the slightest worry. "What is it?"

She carefully pulled a piece of paper out of the deep pocket of her sweater and unfolded it. "Steve came by a few days after you...went missing." Clearing her throat, she stepped a few steps closer and stretched her arm out for him to grab the paper. When he did, she pressed her lips together. "Danny is our son. He's yours and he's mine."

He read over the paper a few times before looking up at her in utter shock. "But I thought that Franco…"

"Heather, she altered the results." She explained easily before pulling the flimsy sweater snug around her again. "Look, Jason, I want you in Danny's life more than anything. In fact, I would love for him to get to know you, right away. I just, I want to take it slow."

He nodded a few times, obviously speechless.

"He thinks that Johnny is his father...and he has been for as long as Danny can remember." She felt wrong for telling him this but she put her son's happiness before everyone else's and this needed to be in the air. "I'm not asking you to give your son up or not be in his life, I never would. I'm just asking for a little time so that he can adjust to this. I'd planned on telling him when he was older but…"

"No, take your time." He finally spoke up. "Take your time…" He scratched his temple with one finger as he thought about what to say next. "When can I just see him? I just want to look at him."

Sam's heart broke at the sound of that. Jason just wanted to see his kid. Tragically, he'd already lost his first one and his access to Jake was already limited and now he'd missed so much of his second son's life. "I can bring him over here tomorrow." She promised.

Jason nodded softly as tears glossed his eyes. "Can-can you tell me about him?" He stuttered as his voice shook. "What is he like?"

As horrible as it was, he'd always felt a little detached towards Danny since he thought that Franco was the father. Even when he'd come to terms with it, he still felt the sting of hatred towards Franco for making something so beautiful with the woman he loved, but low and behold it was him. He'd been the co-creator of the beautiful baby boy who'd stolen his heart the moment he had laid eyes on him.

"Of course." Her brows deepened as she thought of what to say first. "He's funny. He loves to play around. Um, he loves books." She told him cheerily, talking about Danny always made her feel better. "He'd pick books over toys any day." The smile on her face brightened when she said those words. "Except his big, red fire truck. He can just play with that for hours." Her body relaxed as she walked closer to him. "His smile is the brightest smile I've ever seen. And he's so kind already. It's natural for him." The look on his face brought tears to her eyes. "He has a really good heart and he's so smart and beautiful. His eyes are as blue as yours and he's also as stubborn as you." She smiled at the thought of her feisty little son.

Jason hung on to every word that came out of her mouth, not even breathing for fear that he might miss something. The rims of his eyes gathered tears. "That's good." He whispered.

Sam grabbed onto his arm. He looked too sad for her _not_ to comfort him. "Jason, he _will_ know that you're his father."

"That's not fair to Johnny. He's been his father for this long." He said it angrily but he was actually grateful to the man for that. He'd given his son something that he hadn't been able to.

"Then he'll have two fathers. Johnny understands." When he looked away from her she grabbed his face and made him look back at her and their eyes met in a brief second before she felt her cheeks getting hot again. She let go like his skin was fire. "What happened to you?" Her arms folded back into their safest position across her chest as she decided to delve into more serious matters than their increasing tension.

He visibly tried to remember and then gave a light shrug. "I just remember being shot." He said easily. "Falling off the docks into the water. I couldn't swim much because of how the pain was affecting me and then right before I passed out I felt hands grab me and pull me up out of the water."

She looked concerned. "Whose hands?"

"Someone that worked for Victor." He had later discovered. "And I was in and out of consciousness for a while before it all went black." He wiped at his tired face and turned around to walk back to the couch. "When I woke up again, Robin told me that I was on some island with her and that I had been there for a few years. She spent a few more months making sure that I was okay to leave before we finally got to get out of there."

Sam felt guilt wash over her, she hadn't been the only one to suffer. "Why did he take you...instead of letting you die?" She questioned politely, but there was no nice way to ask it. At least he knew how she meant it.

"Because he knew that that was the only way he could get Robin to go with him and work on bringing back Stavros and Helena." He informed, fully expecting the reaction that he got from her.

Her hand opened, splaying over her chest though her arms were still crossed and she frowned in confusion. "Stavros and Helena? Aren't they two of the biggest psychopaths in the world? Why would Robin-"

"She did it for me." He defended her quickly. "She did it so that she had the chance to save me."

Sam stared at him, expecting for him to say more but he just looked away. "So she revived Helena and Stavros?" She moved her head down, trying to see his eyes.

He nodded. "Yes."

Her hand cupped her forehead as she lightly panicked. "Oh my god."

"We have a little time, though. I don't think they're coming here right away." He calmed her. "I just have to figure out how to stop them."

Her eyes widened at him. "You?! Jason, you need to reconnect with your family and get to know your son! Settle in! The last thing you need to be doing right now is-"

"I also have to protect the ones I love, Sam. Robin was able to hear a little bit of what they were planning and it's not good. I can't let anything happen to my family here." His voice got sharp and stern, his hand cutting through the air like a vicious blade. He was passionate about saving his loved ones.

She knew that determined tone and part of her missed it. "Why not contact the authorities? Do something else besides risk yourself the moment you get back home!"

"They want to take over, Sam! They want to take over everything!" His voice rose but his words were short and cut off. "They want every organization, every business, every single thing that matters to anyone here, they want it!"

Her eyes widened even more than they had before and she knew what this meant. Her and her family were in danger. Johnny, Danny, her mother and her Molly. All of them. "Why?"

He didn't answer right away. "They have a score to settle here, I guess. But I don't care why I just care about stopping this." He watched her worried face crinkle into thought as he simmered down. "That's why I need to talk to Sonny." He saw the look on her face and he knew something was wrong. "Don't tell me Sonny's dead."

She shook her head quickly. "No, he's just...he left a while ago. After you died. He sold off the businesses that he had and he left the country with Olivia."

He was surprised to hear that. "What about Michael? Kristina?" Jason felt a little frantic at the thought of Sonny leaving his kids behind in a place like this.

"Kristina went off to college and Michael's still here." She told him, happy to be able to give him that information. "I mean, he's off on a trip with his girlfriend right now but he still lives here. He's always checking in on us, he even takes Danny out with him sometimes." She smiled softly, knowing that Jason would like the idea of that.

And he did, he smiled back. "What's he doing? He's not...in the business, is he?"

"Of course not." She rubbed her cold arms with the palms of her hands. "Johnny wouldn't let him." Her words were low and barely heard.

Jason was thankful and at the same time annoyed. He kept trying to find a reason to hate Johnny but the guy was literally making it hard. He seemed to be treating Sam really well, along with everyone that she cared about and was important to her. "Who else is gone?" He felt so left behind and out of the loop.

She cleared her throat again, it was getting a bit itchy and she could tell that she was probably getting sick. Finally, she sat across from him in a big chair. "Well um...Spinelli, he's gone. He had a baby with Maxie but she lost custody to him so he left with Ellie to Washington." She saw the surprised look on his face and nodded proudly. "They are doing great. And that story is really long and complicated so I'll tell you about it later." She paused to think for a moment. "Morgan went to college. He was having a bad time, he was involved with the Jerome's but there was an accident where he shot Max and after that he cleaned up and went off to college in Paris."

Jason was almost fascinated to hear how much things had changed since he'd been gone. "And Carly?"

She swallowed hard and was scared to tell him about her. "She's okay. She's um...she's doing good."

"What's wrong?" But he knew something was off.

Pushing her hair behind her ear and wiping at her slowly stuffing nose, she dropped her shoulders. "She's with...Franco." She saw his mouth tighten and he gripped the arm of the couch. She reached out to touch his hand. "Jason, before you go crazy, I want you to know that there was some sort of tumor that he had that made him act the way he did when he basically tortured our lives."

"I don't care." He gritted. Not only did he remember the hell that the man had put them through, he couldn't forget one detail of it. It still haunted him to the very day and to know his very best friend was dating the guy that had caused everyone so much pain and suffering angered him to a point that he couldn't handle.

She rubbed his hand to soothe him. "She seems happy." She told him quietly. Sam was never one to judge but she kept her distance from him and made sure that he kept his distance from her son though she didn't have to do very much of it. Johnny had promised Franco that if he ever saw him around them-even by accident-he was dead.

With his other hand he rubbed at his temple. He didn't know how to respond to that. Sam was always so understanding and he couldn't be, not in that situation anyway. He wished he'd never heard that part of the story. He closed his eyes to fixate on something less infuriating. "Who else?"

She thought quickly. "Um, Elizabeth left." The words tumbled out of her mouth with haste. "Ric came back last year and the two of them got remarried and moved out of state with her kids." When his eyes opened to look at her, she knew it was just to assure her that he didn't care and she didn't know if she wanted that kind of reassurance. "Molly visits him on school breaks. She said that they're doing great." Her shoulders lifted in a lazy shrug. "And that's about it." When she attempted to pull her hand away from his, he grabbed it.

"Sam, thank you." Tenderly, his blue eyes bore into hers. He wanted to yank her onto his lap and kiss her, hold her there and never let her go until it was absolutely mandatory but he couldn't do that anymore.

With just a smile in return, she pulled her hand away and used it to dig into her pocket and check her phone for the time. When she saw how late it was, she texted her husband to send a driver for her. She had no interest in disturbing Patrick and his reunion with his wife. When she looked up from her screen, Jason took that moment to look away from her and she knew that he knew who she was texting. Something inside of her felt like she had to stay here so that she wouldn't send him into solitude once again, but a bigger part of her missed her husband and wanted nothing more than to be cuddled in bed next to him. The thought made her feel guilty and selfish and she even decided to look away from him because of how bad she felt.

"You don't have to stay here." He said looking down at his hands and apparently reading some of her thoughts.

"I know." She said lightly. "I just, I wanted to see you. To talk to you. I needed to make sure you were okay."

"I am." He told her unconvincingly.

Her ears knew the sound of his lies but she didn't want to fight it. "You have so many people to visit."

"I know." He was curt and fast.

"Monica is going to be thrilled. I mean, it's like she keeps losing her kids. She'll be so happy to see you." She made small talk by trying to cheer him up. "Michael, Josslyn. She's gotten so big." She barely talked to the little girl when she caught Carly alone but Michael was always taking pictures of his little sister and showing them to the world.

His eyes perked at the news of Josslyn and he was saddened by how much he'd actually missed. And he wanted to catch up with everyone, he was dying to meet Danny officially and see Spinelli's baby. He wanted to see what kind of life Michael had made for himself and the man that Morgan had become. Repercussions of the life he'd chosen, he missed out on everything that he tried to protect. For some reason, it was odd that life had moved on so much without him. It wasn't like he hadn't expected it to, it just felt that since he was standing still, he didn't imagine the world around him moving and evolving so much in his absence.

The room grew quiet as the both of them gathered comfortably in their thoughts. Sam's mind raced with images of the way that her life was going to be now that Jason was back. He would constantly be around if she had anything to say about it because she needed him to be a part of Danny's life. She was sure that Johnny wouldn't have a problem with it. He wanted nothing but the best for Danny, with the same passion as she had when it came to the little boy. All that Johnny would be concerned about was consistency, but she knew that Jason was consistent so there would be no problem.

But she was dying to warn Johnny about Stavros and Helena, that had been plaguing her mind ever since Jason had told her. She wanted him to be prepared and to ensure the safety of Danny. He would probably want her to skip town for a while and she wasn't ready to do that. She was pregnant and didn't have the energy to run right now. She wanted to spend these next few months comfortably at home like she should be. If she had to do some dirty work she would but she didn't want to run around country right now dodging a few psychopaths. She'd rather just face them head on.

"You're getting sick." Jason's voice broke through her racing mind.

She looked up at his cobalt eyes and put her hand to her neck, cupping the cold skin with her warm hand. "How do you know?" She asked, her voice sounding a little more scratchy than it had before.

He stood up and walked over to a small table next to the doorway of the hall, snatching a few tissues from the box that sat on top of it. He swiftly made his way back to her and crouched down in front of her, looking down briefly to situate the paper in his hands. He brought it up to her nose carefully. "Right before you got sick, the tip of your nose always got bright red." He smiled at the memory, wiping her nose slowly before looking up into her eyes. It didn't feel inappropriate until his met hers, he was closer than he should've been but the closeness felt real and safe. Like home.

Scared to move, she kept her body as still as humanly possible. Any movement might make a part of her touch him the wrong way and she might get lost in the feeling of how much she missed being in those big arms...what if she reciprocated? When a few fingers brushed against her cheek, she felt her body heat up and it wasn't from her impending fever.

"Jason, please…" She pleaded, but she didn't know what for. Maybe it was to let her be, or maybe it was to respect her space...or respect that she was married and not to try and tempt her...or to please just move away.

"I'm sorry." He apologized though it didn't reach his eyes. He stood up and looked around before walking back to his spot on the couch.

A soft knock sounded at the door and Sam hopped up, thankful for the interruption of what was sure to be an awkward silence. "That's probably my driver." She beelined for the door and swung it open, surprised to see her tall, handsome husband standing there in all black. His curly hair was wild and his brow cocked when he saw her.

His brown eyes studied her for less than three seconds before the small half smirk across his face fell and he gently flicked the tip of her nose. "Your nose is red." He informed. "You're getting sick."

She rolled her eyes at the irony as he handed her the large coat of hers that she didn't feel like finding before she'd left with Patrick on her way over here, which was probably why she was getting sick right now. "I think it's just a little cold." She took it from him and pulled it over her shoulders. He helped her put it on and gave her arms a few, quick rubs to jumpstart the warmth, then his eyes moved to the other body in the room.

The most awkward moment of her life was stirring before her right now. The moment that she knew was going to happen one way or another was happening right in front of her. Johnny stepped into the house like she knew he would and Jason stood up exactly as she had expected him to. The men that towered over her stared blankly at each other and looking between them she couldn't decide on what to say so she pretended to be extremely concentrated on buttoning her coat-the coat that she never buttoned.

"What happened with the Penthouse?"

Sam looked up at Jason's question, her eyes wide with regret. "I sold it." She felt horrible and it was written all over her face. Jason didn't want to sleep at Robin and Patrick's tonight. He hated being a guest in someone's elses house. He liked his own space and his freedom to roam.

"I own similar penthouses close by if you'd like me to give you one." He said evenly. "I can also repay you the amount that she sold it for if you'd like…" Contrary to the way his voice sounded, he was really interested in helping the man out.

"No." Jason refused and it was almost childishly. He instantly regretted it. "I have money in offshore accounts I can get access to."

Johnny nodded solemnly as he sized up the man "Well, let me know if you need anything." He noted that Jason was bulky and muscular like he remembered, the navy blue shirt almost looked like it was painted onto his skin. Jason's stare was intense-another thing he remembered about the guy-but it didn't intimidate Johnny at all. He didn't know if that was what Jason intended, but either way, it didn't work.

"You don't have to help me." Jason shot at him, some of his senseless anger seeping through the cracks.

"Yes I do. You're the father of my so-" He stopped his words and ran a hand through his hair. His growing anger was evident as he took a small breath to cool down. His jaw tightened a few seconds later when he chose to speak again. "You need to be around." He didn't want to disrespect Jason by openly calling Danny his son, he just wasn't sure how the guy felt about that. He wasn't going to start anything off in a shitty way with him. Not only would it be bad for Danny, but he knew that Sam wouldn't handle it well either and he was not going to have her stressing out during her pregnancy.

Jason gave a blank look. "I will be."

Their eyes locked in a heated staring match before Sam grabbed onto her husband's arm. "Johnny, let's go." She whispered to him.

Her voice instantly reminded him that she was talking to him and that she wanted to go home with him. His heart soared with the relief that every hour that she hadn't been home had stripped him of. He looked down at her and without smiling and nodded his head to her. "Let's go."

Sam smiled almost sadly at her ex-husband. "I'll see you...tomorrow." She told him and then clung to her husband's arm as they walked out of the door.

He almost ran to the door after her. He wanted to, he fought not to and he let her walk away from him. She looked happy and content with Johnny, he could feel how she fell into a comfortable position next to him when he came in. Running his hands over his tired face, he knew that he had to do the unthinkable.

He had to let her go.

* * *

The car ride had been quiet aside from Johnny telling her that he loved her a few times during the ride. Her usually adorably-cocky husband seemed to be bothered by something that he wasn't saying...although she'd have to be an idiot not to figure it out. She was probably a jerk for flying off to see Jason in the middle of the night like she had, but she hadn't been thinking clearly and she just wanted to see for herself that this was real and that Jason wasn't dead...and a part of her wanted to see if this would change anything, as selfish as it was. She wanted to know what would happen the moment that she saw him again. Would she fall into his arms and forget the past few years? Did she even want to?

Climbing into the bed, she heard her phone vibrate next to her and picked it up. She saw that it was Patrick and entered the text message.

**Are you okay?**

She read the text twice, he was the only person that she could honestly answer that question for.

**I don't know**, she replied. **I think I'm still in shock.**

**I'll be there in the morning**, he told her.

Her fingers quickly began typing. **No, spend time with your wife, I'll stop by later, Danny misses Emma anyway.**

**You sure?**

**Yes, now stop texting me and get back to your wife.**

**LOL love you**

She smiled as her fingers typed back, **Love you too**

She looked over at her husband who had just picked up his phone and wanted to say something to break the ice, but nothing seemed appropriate. Thinking of something to say to him, she glanced at the phone in her lap when it vibrated and her brows furrowed when Johnny's name popped up, complete with the little hearts that Molly had insisted on decorating his name with. She entered the text message and fought back a smile as she read it.

**Are you ignoring me, sweetheart?**

She glanced at him and was almost convinced that it wasn't him texting her at how completely detached he looked. With a cocked brow, her thumbs began texting back. **No, you're ignoring me.**

It took a few seconds before he responded. **I couldn't ignore you if I tried.**

**Why not? **She bit down on her bottom lip, restlessly waiting for the answer.

She saw the corner of his mouth twitch with a small smirk as he typed into his touch screen phone and then looked down when her phone vibrated again. **Look at how insanely hot you are. How could I?**

She was smiling from ear to ear now, feeling completely silly for texting her husband who was lying right next to her but excited about it nonetheless. **Just how hot am I?**

**Come over here and find out.**

Sam burst into laughter and he was grinning at her as she sat her phone aside. She hit him playfully on the shoulder and he grabbed her hand, holding it to his bare chest. "What's wrong?" She asked him seriously, a hint of her laugh still playing at her lips.

"Nothing." He blew it off. "I just missed you. I couldn't sleep without you, I'm not used to it." He pulled her closer and kissed her arm. "I was a mess. I was tempted to wake Danny up and make him eat ice cream and watch Bob the Builder with me." They both laughed and he raised his hand, flicking her chin with his finger. When they stared at each other for a while, he rubbed a hand through his hair. "I love you so much. I guess I was just a little insecure."

"You? Insecure?" She asked doubtfully.

"Just a little." He reminded, quickly wagging a finger at her.

"About what?"

"I was afraid that you would just see him and fall in love with him all over again." He felt silly for ever feeling so afraid to lose her, but she was amazing and he knew that there would be no one for him after this.

"Honestly, so was I." She admitted and her heart broke when he looked down at his lap. "But I couldn't stop thinking about you the whole time." She rubbed a hand across his stubbly face. "And I couldn't wait to come home to you." Leaning forward, she kissed his forehead.

He grabbed her arms and pulled her on top of him so that she was straddling his lap. Smirking, he ran small circles on her exposed tummy with his thumbs and looked up at her. Her nose was even more red and her eyes seemed glossy and puffy, like they were irritated and he could already imagine her in the morning, stuffy and tired, pretending to be fine.

"I was just scared of losing you guys. You and Danny are all I have. If I lose you guys, I lose everything and I don't know how to deal with that." He confessed. Johnny didn't have anyone if they left her.

And Sam knew that was the truth. Johnny had no more family left. His father/grandfather was dead, so was his sister-whom he later found out was his mother and he didn't have any other family. Sam was it for him, her and Danny and his unborn. He was afraid to lose them because they were the only thing he had left that mattered.

"You will never lose me. Or Danny." She promised. "We're yours." She leaned forward to kiss him.

"Well now that that's out of the way," he started, his lips still against hers as he talked, "how did everything go?" Knowing that she still felt the same way about him, he wanted to hear how catching up with Jason Morgan had gone.

She pulled away to look down at him seriously. "Honestly?" She paused. "I feel like it's so unfair what happened to him. He missed out on so much. Maybe I should have talked him into staying home that night or maybe I should have gone…"

A sincere look of concern wrinkled Johnny's face as he shook his head. "Hey, don't do that. Don't blame yourself. He got shot because of his work, not because of you."

"I know, I just…"

"It was always a risk being with him. It's always a risk being with someone in this line of work." He made an uncomfortable face at how distraught she looked. "I know how hard it was for you, that's why I think I should get out of this shit. If anything ever happened and you had to go through that again…" He trailed off, the thought alone nearly killed him.

"Johnny..."

"Sam, I saw how destroyed you were from losing him. And the truth is, this job puts people at risk. Constantly." He was frustrated and raked a hand through his growing dark hair.

"Johnny, just walking down the street is a risk, okay? I don't want to change you. This is who you are." She cupped his face in her hands.

"But what if something happens to me?" He had never been scared of what could happen to him or if anything did until he met her. "Are you supposed to suffer because I want to be in the mob?"

"Look," she sighed, "I had always prepared myself for the day that I would get the call that something happened to Jason." She glanced down at her hands as she rubbed them together. "I've prepared myself for that with you." Her words were low, soft, sad. "But the day Jason died, it was the night that we'd just decided to try things again, we'd just gotten Danny back, him dying...him leaving me again after we had literally just found our way back to each other was the furthest thing from my mind. The timing was...just...horrible." Her voice shook and she looked up at him, her eyes wide with sadness. "But I know that it's a part of this life that we live in."

He covered his eyes with his hand and then rubbed the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes with a deep breath. "That's not right to make you prepare for losing me."

"Johnny, you are in charge of so many things." She continued to plead his case.

"That I don't give a fuck about when it comes to you and Danny." He snapped, looking up at her with furrowed brows. "I could walk out the door one day and not come back."

"That's the risk we take. You love what you do." She leaned down to kiss his chin quickly. "I don't want you to wake up one day and realize that you gave up everything for me. I don't want you to ever feel like you had to sacrifice for me."

This is where her insecurities came into play. Sam never wanted anyone to change something as big as a career choice for her. Maybe somewhere deep down, she thought she wasn't worth it. Alexis' tried to talk her into talking Johnny out of this business, because Alexis could tell that Johnny was more susceptible to the change than Jason had been. Johnny didn't have anyone in town to protect really, no one that he cared about or shared bonds with. Johnny didn't care about much, it was only when Sam and Danny were bothered that you could get a rise out of him.

And Alexis thought that her oldest daughter was in more insane for putting her and Danny's life in danger, but the truth was that Sam trusted Johnny to protect her and Danny with all of her heart. She never doubted for a second that he was doing everything in his power to make sure that they were safe. She felt completely safe with Johnny and that was why she stayed.

"I love you." She kissed him again but this time he held her there and the kiss deepened within seconds, his hands running along the length of her back.

He wanted to tell her that he was going to give up everything he had and live the straight and narrow life. It was official, everything was in the works at the moment. He'd been thinking about it for weeks and had spent the last few weeks tying together loose ends, making sure that financially, they would be set and that they could move somewhere else and start over. But then Jason came back and now he didn't know how to tell her without it seeming like he was doing it to get away from Jason, which he knew she didn't want.

His fingers tangled in the mess that was her hair and he reveled in the feel of her warm mouth against his. He needed this. To feel her skin pressed against his. He was eagerly returning the passionate kiss when she pulled away, heaving breathlessly. "I almost forgot." She panted.

"What?" Johnny distractedly asked as he tugged at her shirt.

"We have a problem."

He was mildly interested. "What?"

"The Cassadine's." She swallowed to catch the rest of her breath. "They're coming to Port Charles any day now."

"The Cassadine's? Which Cassadine's?" He frowned at her like she was misinforming him. "Aren't the Cassadine's already here?" He hands were back to roaming her silky skin.

"Stavros and Helena." She said carefully.

"Stavros and Helena?" He repeated. "Sam, they're dead."

Her head shook slowly from side to side. "Not anymore."

"Not anymore?" His hands rested on her hips, he was fully engaged in this conversation now. "Samantha Zacchara, what the hell are you talking about?"

"Victor coaxed Robin into restoring them by promising her that she'd have the chance to revive Jason," she gave him a worried look, "and I guess Robin overheard them planning to come here and take over."

"They want to take over Port Charles?" He scoffed. "They aim high, don't they?" He said sarcastically, rubbing at his face. "I just don't understand why they're being so sloppy. If that was really the case, why would they let Jason and Robin come back? Why not just kill them as soon as Robin fixed the two of them?"

It was a good question, Sam briefly wondered why she hadn't thought of it. "I don't know." She answered in thought.

"I'm going to go look into it first thing in the morning." He promised as she crawled off of him.

She could see the worried line between his brows as folded his arms behind his head and stared up at the ceiling, obviously in deep thought. She tucked her hands under her cheek as she turned to face him. His jaw clenched as he stared. She could only imagine what he was thinking, what he was feeling. Her eyes watched the seriousness play across his face before she fell asleep.


	4. Chapter 3

I am really excited to get the reviews that I got! Thank you so much, I'm so proud of myself! LoL I'm happy that you all like the story and I'm happy that I am able to open some of you guys up to the idea of JoSam. Thank you so much! Please read and review!

**FreeBird**

_Chapter 3_

Waking up to an empty bed always made her feel empty inside as well, but the little note he'd left on her pillow made her smile and partly made up for the loneliness. It simply said _I made you soup. _On the nightstand next to his side of the bed she saw the thermal that hadn't been there the night before and her smile turned into a full-fledged grin. It was the thought and effort that he always put into loving her that made her feel so lucky. Sam was sure that he was out going crazy over the Cassadine thing. He'd been tossing and turning all night, she knew he barely slept worrying about their safety. And she also knew what else was bothering him. The man who had been her everything not too long ago. He was here and Johnny was struggling to fight with the loss he was afraid of facing. The loss of everything he'd worked for the past few years. Her, Danny...she knew that one of his worst fears was the thought of them being taken away from him.

She glanced down at her phone, shivered while pushing it back in her coat pocket and knocked a third time on the door of her mother's house, a little harder this time and then she rattled the locked knob for emphasis. It was early but she had a cold and she was impatient. She had a lot to do today and this was her first stop-picking up her son. Maybe she could have come a little later but she missed him and wanted to see him now. Johnny had dropped him off with Alexis and Molly late last night before picking her up from her visit with Jason.

Molly finally unlocked the door, her hair thrown up in a messy bun and her pajama pants light pink with panda bears all over them. She had on an over sized white shirt and she rubbed her eyes, completely annoyed and glaring. "Why are you here so early?" The teen whined.

"Because, I have things to do. And shouldn't you be getting ready for school?" Sam pointed before she slid past her and into the quiet house.

Molly groaned and closed the door. "School doesn't start for another two hours." She followed her sister to the living room and waved towards the hall when she turned around to face her. "Danny's asleep in my bed."

"Ah, that explains why you're so grumpy." Sam pinched her sister's cheeks before taking off down the hall. "Is Mom still asleep?" She asked right before masking a sneeze in the crook of her arm.

"I don't know and I don't care." Her attitude was bad when she was up too early.

Sam made it to Molly's room and tilted her head to adore the sleeping boy on her bed. She smiled and made her way to him, sitting beside him and stroking his face lightly. He stirred in his sleep and turned over. "Was he much trouble?"

Molly couldn't help but smile softly as she crossed her arms, despite her bad mood. "No. He just sleeps like a crazy person." She complained harmlessly. "But he went right to sleep as soon as Johnny dropped him off last night." She frowned. "What was the emergency?"

Alexis appeared in the doorway, her hair wrapped up in a green towel and her body wrapped in a thick white robe. "Sam, what happened last night?" She sounded worried as she walked into the room, but her voice was a hushed whisper as she padded closer with her fluffy pink slippers.

Sam sighed and rested her hands in her lap as she folded one leg up on the bed. "You won't believe it." She started and they stepped closer, beginning to look even more worried. Her smile was light and her brows rose as she finally told them, "Jason's back."

Molly's mouth fell open as her arms dropped from across her chest to her sides and Alexis gasped, putting a hand to her heart. "What? Oh my god, Sam…" Alexis didn't know whether to congratulate her or not.

"Is he okay?" Molly wondered, sitting at the edge of the bed. She too, was devastated by his disappearance. Despite everything that he and Sam had been through, she loved Jason and he had always been an important part of her life.

"He's fine. I mean, physically. I went over and we just caught up on everything. He's been through a lot." She smiled softly and glanced at her son. "I told him the truth about Danny."

Molly covered her mouth with her hands, still shocked by the news. "Oh my god. Where is he staying?"

"For now he's at Patrick's. Robin brought him back." She was going to leave out the other details. After all, they did have a connection themselves to the Cassadine family and she knew how her mother overreacted. Discretion would be impossible if her mother got a hold of the news.

"Robin? How? How'd she find him?" Alexis was already hounding her daughter with questions.

"I'm not sure about all of the details, I just know that Jason's back and he's fine." She stood up and held her arms out in finality.

"And what about you?" Alexis asked softly. "Are you fine? I know this has to be hard for you." Her eyes inspected her daughter, trying to see past the casual facade.

"I'm doing better than I thought I would." Sam said after a while.

"How is Johnny taking it?" Molly was concerned for him, too. Although she loved Jason and was thrilled that he was alive and well, Johnny had become her new brother-in-law and she loved him dearly.

"Better than I thought he would." She shrugged one shoulder. "He was a little iffy about it at first but we talked about everything and we're fine." Her hand covered her mouth as she coughed. Her throat was bothering her again. It had stopped briefly after downing the soup he'd left for her, but the cold weather outside had instantly brought back her symptoms.

"I want to go see Jason after school." Molly was suddenly in a better mood. She even grabbed all of Danny's discarded items and went over to him, proceeding to redress him in his sleep. She slipped on his little red hat first, smiling when he smiled in his sleep.

Sam watched her dress him for a little while. "You should come with me later. I'm taking Danny by to visit with him and Emma." She suggested. "I can pick you up."

"You don't think that's too much for him? The guy barely came back." Alexis put her two cents in. "And he might want to spend some alone time with Danny." Not that she fully agreed, but she had learned better than to argue against her daughter. It would turn into a never ending argument.

"Mom, I doubt Danny's just going to be completely comfortable with a total stranger. And I'm sure he won't mind seeing Molly, you know how Jason is about kids." If Jason was still the same Jason that Sam had always known, he would be happy to see Molly and how she'd grown in the past few years. He used to tease about all of her annoying romantic gestures but he did adore the girl, nonetheless.

"If you say so." Alexis stood up with a sigh, easily backing down.

"I'm going to meet up with Maxie for breakfast," Sam told her mother, "You should come. I have news for you." She teased lightly, walking in front of her mother.

"More news?" Alexis playfully retorted. Her eyes rolled as she pretended to think about it. "I have to go to the office first. Diane has been calling me all morning, which now I probably know why." She waved a hand at Sam, referring to Jason's return.

"Why would she call you if Jason's back?" Sam asked curiously.

"To have access to things that were left to you with his disappearance. He probably had money hidden away or has entitlement to certain things. I'm guessing that they need to sort out what's what." She mumbled as she walked towards the door. "After I talk to her, I'll meet up with you."

"Okay, I'll be at Kelly's." She called as her mother exited the room.

Molly was smirking from ear to ear at her sister as she walked back towards her. "I know what the news is." She singsonged.

"What?" Sam challenged.

"You're having a baby." She whispered, just in case her mother could still hear her.

Sam was impressed. "How the hell did you know that?"

Molly answered her with the famous Davis' eye roll. "Sam, I can practically tell. The only reason Mom probably can't is because she's so wrapped up in Julian right now."

Sam cringed. She was not on speaking terms with her father, even though he was dating her mother. They said the occasional hi and bye, but she would never have a relationship with him. "Still?"

Molly too, was obviously disgusted. "Yes." After a quiet while, she rolled her eyes again. "Okay, and Johnny kinda told me last night when he dropped Danny off."

Her eyes narrowed and she mentally told herself to kill him. "He just can't keep his mouth shut." Sam kissed the top of her sister's head. "I'll pick you up from school, just call me when you're out of practice."

"Cool." She watched her sister lift Danny into her arms and frowned slightly. "Should you be doing that?"

Sam snorted. "I'm pregnant," she hissed softly, "not disabled."

Laughing softly, Molly waved. "I'll see you later."

"Bye." Sam threw quietly over her shoulder before exiting the room.

* * *

Maxie couldn't believe her ears. She blinked and sat her drink on the table, leaning closer thinking that she'd probably misheard everything that her friend was telling her. "I'm sorry, did you just say that Jason is back?"

Sam nodded. "Yes." She whispered and glanced over at Danny who was concentrated on coloring in the Cars coloring book in front of him. "I went to go see him last night."

Her perfectly manicured brow arched. "Really? Should I cover Danny's ears so you can tell me what happened?" A mischievous smile crept on her lips as she playfully covered his ears, receiving a small laugh and a flail of his arms from him. She made a silly face at him before diverting her attention back to her friend.

Sam rolled her eyes. "Nothing happened. Nothing like that, anyway." She corrected. "We talked and we caught up."

"And Johnny was okay with it?" Maxie asked disbelievingly.

"He understood. We trust each other. And we have an understanding."

"He must be going crazy. Because you and Jason are like this epic power couple and-"

"Johnny and I are, too." Sam defended them.

"Yeah, I know, but," she sighed and gave up. "Nevermind." She mumbled. Her friend was entirely devoted to Johnny and that was that. "So where's he been this whole time?"

"It's a really long story, but Robin saved his life." Sam gave her the rundown.

"Robin?" Maxie questioned.

Nibbling on the end of a fry from her plate, Sam frowned. "Yes, Robin. You didn't know she was back?"

"Oh my god, no!" Maxie was excited and hurt at the same time.

"She's probably still locked up in the room with Patrick." The brunette smirked. "I've been calling him all morning because I was supposed to go over there today. He hasn't so much as texted me back." Her complaining sounded more like bragging as she smiled at the happiness her friend was most likely feeling, being reunited with his wife.

Maxie's frown seemed to soften. "Yeah, you're probably right. I would lock myself in a room with him, too." She winked.

Sam chuckled but gave the girl a side look. "Uh, what's that phrase again...too much info?" She said before sipping her milk.

Maxie eyed the coffee-less coffee cup her friend was drinking from and narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "You're drinking milk. Not a beer and not coffee." She pointed to the cup as her friend sat it back down on the table like it was a foreign object.

"And?" Sam shrugged.

"And...that is completely out of the ordinary."

"It's warm milk. I'm sick." She tried. "My throat has been itching like crazy." She didn't meet the girl's eyes.

Maxie looked on knowingly. "Okay really, what gives?" She waited for an explanation.

After a brief moment of silence and Maxie's blue orbs boring into her, she rolled her eyes in defeat. "I'm pregnant."

Maxie's mouth snapped closed and a wide grin spread across her face. "Sam, oh my god!" She clapped once and pressed her hands together excitedly. "I get to plan the baby shower, right?" She never gave Sam time to answer. "Of course I do, who else would?! I need to start making calls, scouting venues…" She paused from pulling her phone from her large, pastel blue tote. "Oh my god, we can use one of the beach houses you guys own. A beach theme. We'll have it in May."

"Which is a gazillion months away!" Sam warned. "This is just a baby shower, not a ball."

"Not just any baby shower, it's _your_ baby shower. Which means I don't have a lot of time." She was already pulling out her phone, a pen and a notepad.

Sam smirked at Maxie as she offered a few of her visions to see what Sam thought of them. Sam nodded at a few and frowned at a few more for about ten minutes before Alexis came bustling through the door, stacks of papers under one arm and her leather bag under the other. Her glasses were on, slipping down the tip of her nose and Sam knew that meant business.

"Mom, you look busy." Sam noticed as the woman plopped down next to Danny.

"Grandma!" He screeched, dropping his crayon on the table and lifting his arms to her.

"Hey baby." She cooed, kissing his head and hugging him after plopping the papers on the table and her bag on the floor next to her.

"Look what I did." He showed her the scribbled picture he'd done.

"That is beautiful." She lied. "Can I have it?"

"It was for my mom," he said indecisively and then shrugged, "but I guess so."

They laughed and Sam noticed that her mother was winded and as she played with Danny, she could tell something was off. "Mom, what's wrong?"

She turned to her daughter with her forehead wrinkled. "Sam, we have a huge problem."

"What?"

"Diane needed a few files for Jason. Apparently, he has money in a few offshore accounts and some other small savings accounts. But in order for him to get access to these things, I need your divorce of absentia paperwork." She opened the file before her and looked down at it, hoping that it would be there.

"Okay so, do you need my consent to give it to her or...?" Sam didn't understand.

"No, I need the actual paperwork." She paused as she dropped her head, looking at her daughter over the rim of her glasses. "But it's nowhere to be found."

"What do you mean it's nowhere to be found? I spent like a week doing it." Sam remembered vividly because it was one of the hardest things she ever had to do.

"I'm pretty sure you did do it. But either it was lost or it was never filed." Alexis informed. "In fact, I thought maybe I misplaced it, because I should have noticed that I didn't have it. But I checked with the divorce department and they confirmed that it was never filed."

Sam was confused and shook her head, waving her hands in front of her as she tried to understand. "Wait, wait, what do you mean it wasn't filed?"

"After you filled them out, what did you do with them?" Alexis asked, her serious tone hushed so that the people around them wouldn't hear it. "Do you remember who took them for you or who you spoke to?"

Sam closed her eyes and dropped her head in her hands as she struggled to remember. "When I was finished filling them out, I remember I was too distraught to file them myself." Her head shot up and she pointed to her mom. "I couldn't file them myself, I couldn't bring myself to do it. It was just so hard. And I..." She trailed off, remembering the emotions she felt at that time about divorcing a husband that she didn't even think was dead.

Alexis nodded, happy they were on to something and happy to cut off her sad memories. "Okay, good. So you couldn't do it, now who filed them for you?"

At that moment, Maxie scooted her chair from the table and shot up. "I should get going, I have a lot of things to do and I'm already running late so..." She chuckled nervously as she gathered her things.

Sam's mouth dropped open in sudden realization. "Maxie! I gave them to Maxie!" She pointed to her friend accusingly. "You came by and you offered to take them in for me. I had completely filled them out I just needed you to turn them in. Maxie, what happened?"

"Okay, can we please just take into consideration that this was almost a year ago. How am I supposed to remember what happened a whole year ago?" The blonde rambled defensively.

Alexis' head was already resting in her hand, she knew this was bad and that the papers were probably laying in a Gucci shoebox somewhere in the back of her closet. Sam gulped. "Maxie, you need to remember, did you file the papers?"

Putting a finger to her chin, she tilted her head and looked up at the ceiling, in serious thought. "Okay, let me see, it was the winter of last year and every winter light colors are in so I probably had one of my pastel colored purses." She recited like it was crucial information. "Last year...I was obsessed with Prada's pink line…" She talked to herself and then her face twisted in disgust. "You know what? I'm sure I can go the the court building and explain this whole misunderstanding…"

"What happened to the papers?" Alexis nearly boomed, yanking her glasses from her face.

Biting on her bottom lip, she sunk back into her seat. "It might have slipped my mind. I mean, I caught a cab and the court building is on the exact same street as the Prada store downtown so I might've accidentally gone in there and lost track of time."

"Oh my god." Sam let out a huge breath as she covered her face in her hands, trying to contain her anger. "So you never turned them in?"

"Sam, you know me! I have the attention span of a newborn! You probably would have been better off sending Danny to file them for you!" She waved her hand at the little boy who looked up and giggled in return.

"Maxie, but I asked you if you did it and you said yes!"

"Because I intended on doing it the next day!" And every day, she would put it off until the next until eventually she switched purses and forgot all about it.

Sam looked to her mother, the panic in her beginning to rise. "Mom, what does this mean?"

Alexis slowly replaced her glasses and sighed. "Honey, it changes everything."

"Everything? How?"

"A person is not legally declared dead until they've been missing for seven years, which would have ended your marriage by default. But Jason was only gone for three so without that paperwork," she lifted her glasses and rubbed at her tired eyes. "Legally, your marriage to Johnny would be null and void."

Sam felt her heart drop. "What?" She couldn't believe her ears.

"And technically, you're still married to Jason."

The words crushed her like a bulldozer and she sat there in shock.

Maxie cringed in guilt. "I'll throw you the best baby shower in the world." She offered apologetically to compromise.

"Baby shower?" Alexis looked over at her daughter surprised. "Honey, you're pregnant?!"

Sam smiled but it didn't reach her eyes. She put her hands up and wiggled them unenthusiastically in the air. "Surprise." She sang with little eagerness before sliding a ruthless death glare towards Maxie. The blonde cowered under the stare.

* * *

Sam's large SUV pulled up in front of her house and she sighed heavily when she saw the car of who she'd thought was her husband for the past few months in the driveway. He was probably busy or on his way back to work because when he was home for good, he would pull into the garage and Danny got so excited when he heard the garage door opening, he always ran to greet him. She looked back at Danny sleeping in his carseat and smiled softly. He was so precious.

Her phone vibrated in her purse and she grabbed it from the passenger seat, digging through it and hoping it was Patrick. She felt her body lighten with relief when she saw his name across the screen and she answered it hurriedly.

"Sorry about not answering earlier." Patrick said immediately and she could feel the smile on his face. "But I was doing some much needed catching up with my wife."

She heard Robin in the background say something that she couldn't make out and they both laughed. Sam couldn't fight the smile that spread across her face at the happiness Patrick felt. He deserved it more than anyone she knew. "Don't apologize. I understand."

Still with a hint of laughter in his voice, "So have you talked to Jason?" She heard Patrick whisper for Robin to bring her something.

"No, not since last night. I was going to take Danny over there right now so Jason could meet him." She told him.

"Jason's not here." Patrick's tone turned serious. "I thought he was with you."

Her head snapped up as she looked confused. "No, he's not. I told him that I'd be by today to bring Danny over." She remembered her conversation with her mother earlier. "You know what, I think he went to go see Diane because my mom said something about sending her paperwork regarding him."

"What kind of paperwork?" He wondered.

"I don't know but my mom told me some disturbing news earlier."

"What kind of disturbing news?"

"The kind of disturbing news that would make me legally married to Jason and _not_ legally married to Johnny." She laid it on him thick.

He gasped and waited for her to tell him she was joking, but she never did. "How the hell did that happen?"

"Let's just say that I trusted Maxie with important papers." She gave a wry smile as if he was right in front of her.

He knew that equaled a disaster. "What are you going to do?" He sounded on the verge of panic.

"I don't know, I haven't figured anything out yet." She sighed.

"I see you don't sound so torn up about it." He noted from her calm voice.

So caught off guard by the comment, her mouth snapped shut before she could think of a quick reply. "I am...torn up...about it." She sounded unconvincing and even. "My shock has already come and gone. Now, I just need to come up with a plan."

Patrick knew better but decided not to press her. "How did Johnny take it?"

Sam watched as the man in question walked out of their front door, looking down at his cell phone and struggling to operate the touch screen with his leather gloves on. He had on a white shirt, which she always thought looked great against his naturally tanned skin and a long, mid-shin length peacoat with the collar lightly flipped up around his neck. His heavy leather boots sunk into the unplowed snow on their lawn as he blindly walked forward. She knew that he'd been having a stressful day because his hair was all over the place, which usually meant he'd been brushing his hands through it in frustration.

"I'm about to find out." She said lowly.

"Good luck." He felt for her. "Call me and tell me how it went."

"I'll be over there in a bit." She informed before they mumbled quick goodbyes and hung up.

She opened the door and when he looked up, finally spotting her, their eyes met. His phone quickly fell to his large side pocket as he rushed over to her, surprised to see her home so early in the day. She was usually out and about but on this particular day he was happy that she was here. He wanted to give her a recap of what was going on.

"Sweetheart." He put a hand carefully on her waist as he leaned down to meet her in a kiss and then he glanced at the car. "Where's Danny?"

"He's inside, asleep. He had a long morning with my mom baby talking his ear off and Maxie giving him fashion advice." She crossed her arms over her chest as they smiled at each other.

"Poor guy." He sympathized, glancing through the window of the vehicle just to get a peek at the other love of his life. "Why do you put him through that?"

"You'd be surprised how much he asks for Grandma Lexy and Maxie." She said in mock shock that he was accusing her. When the laughter died down, she stepped closer. "Are you busy right now?"

"Yeah. But actually, I need to talk to you before I head out. It's important." His brows wrinkled. "I looked into the Cassadine thing and you were right. Stavros and Helena are very much alive." He shifted from one foot to the other and leaned against her car. "And I couldn't understand why they were being so sloppy but I think there's more to it. I think they've been planning this for a really long time and I think some of the Russians I do business with could be spying for them."

Her eyes widened with worry for him and for what this could mean for their family. "Do you have any idea who it could be?"

"I got some of my guy's checking up on it right now." He ran a hand through his hair. "But I'm almost sure that's whats going on."

She did the same gesture as him, flipping her hair away from her face. "Wow. If the Cassadine's pulled that off that would be really," she tucked her hands into the pockets of her leather coat as she nodded, "smart."

"Or stupid." He offered. "Because the minute I find out someone's doing that, I'm taking all of them out." There was no way he'd leave room for someone to threaten him or his family.

His eyes darkened to a lethal hue and his voice got colder than the wind hitting her cheeks. She'd seen this Johnny only very few times but she knew that it meant business when he did get this way. She grabbed his hand caringly. "Do you need me to do anything?"

"Yes. I need to you stay alert and stay safe. Possibly stay inside as much as possible. That would ease my mind a lot." He pulled her to him to warm her with a giant hug. "If I'm right about all of this, they're probably privy to the fact that I'm looking into it."

"Okay, but I meant do you need me to help with anything _productive_. Like look into some backgrounds, look at accounting records, see if things are adding up…?" She knew that helping in any physical way was out of the question with her pregnancy.

He looked down at her and reluctantly nodded. "I guess you can do that."

"I can. I'll get started as soon as I get home." She confirmed and leaned up to kiss him, but she pulled away before letting it linger.

He frowned at the hastiness. "What was that?"

"Well, I don't want you to get sick." She wiped at her nose.

His mouth lifted in a crooked smirk as his head dropped back down to kiss her. "I don't care about getting sick." He deepened the kiss hungrily, he needed it today. He had been stressed out and missing her all morning, so seeing her car on his way out was like a breath of fresh air. "Did you eat my soup this morning?" He brushed hair out of her face.

"Yes, it was delicious. When did you make it?" Her arms snaked around his neck.

"I couldn't sleep last night." He told her quietly. "And you kept coughing and sniffling in your sleep." He brought his hand up to her red tipped nose, brushing a thumb along it. "No wonder I couldn't sleep." He muttered.

She mocked an offended glare. "Whatever." Her word was muffled when he pressed his lips back to hers.

He was the one that had finally pulled away for air, resting his head on hers with a small, satisfied smile. These were the moments that made his life worth while. "Let me take you to dinner tonight." He whispered raspily. He always asked her out on dates even though she was his wife now-or at least she thought she was-which she thought was quite interesting. He would go as far as picking her up from the house and ringing the doorbell when he got there.

"I don't know, I have to check my schedule." Her smile shined as she looked up at him, backing away teasingly at his attempts to kiss her.

"I'll pick you up at nine." He insisted, letting his lips land on her neck.

"Alright." She shrugged, pushing his mouth from her skin with a giggle. "Now," she started, focusing on fixing the front of his coat, "Go back to work before you get sidetracked." She patted her hand on his chest when she was satisfied with the adjustments she'd made to the material.

"You're right." He stole a quick kiss with his hands on her hips. "Be careful, please. And try not to go anywhere."

"I'm just going to Patrick's." The awkwardness of that was only there because he knew who was there now, but she'd always gone to Patrick's when he wasn't working. "He's taking some time off of work because Robin's back and I thought maybe...Danny could, you know…" She swallowed and nodded.

Johnny couldn't say the fear of losing Danny wasn't there. It had been haunting him so much that he could barely sleep last night. And it wasn't only the fear of losing him, but the fear of watching how confused he would be when he found out that Jason was his real dad and he was just...his stepdad. "Jason." He nodded once in approval. "Okay." He gave a weak smile before kissing her cheek again. "Just be careful."

"Yeah." She mentally decided that she was going to tell him about their marriage later. Right now didn't seem like the right time to do it.

"I love you." It was more of a reminder than anything else.

She put a hand to his face with a soft smile. "I love you, too."

He grabbed her hand and kissed it before trudging to his car and driving away, but not before giving her a quick wave as he zoomed by. She watched his car disappear before going to get Danny out of the car. She wanted to change and pick him up a few toys that he wanted to take to Patrick's before heading over there.

* * *

The hot chocolate cascaded down her itchy throat like a savior, soothing the irritation she'd had there since last night. She closed her eyes briefly, revelling in the eye roll worthy feeling. When she opened her eyes, Patrick sat across from her on the couch, smirking at her like she was an alien from a different planet.

"Robin," she said, looking behind him and ignoring his crazy grin on purpose, "This is probably the best hot chocolate I've ever had."

Glancing over her shoulder, the girl grinned as she moved dishes from the small dining room table they'd just eaten lunch on. "I'll be sure to inform Nestle."

Patrick refrained from laughing as he put his cup on the coffee table. "It's the hot chocolate in those little packets. Even _you_ can make it." He nudged her leg and smiled sweetly at her death glare.

"If you must know, I've always made a disaster out of those things." She took another gulp before setting the half empty cup on the table in front of her. Her eyes drifted across the living room to where Emma and Danny sat at their little kiddie table in the corner playing with some form of play-doh. When Danny's eyes met hers, he held up a crazy shaped object that was a mixture of about five different colors.

"Mommy! Look it!" He yelped excitedly.

She looked at him with an impressed raise of her brows. "Wow, what is it?"

He looked at it as if he had to guess himself. "A doggy!" He decided.

"What a nice doggy." She praised him. "You should make me a cat. I love cats." Her smile widened as she watched him get directly to work.

"I can make you a cat, too, Aunt Sam." Emma chimed in, glancing over.

"How about you make Aunt Sam a bunny?" Robin came from the kitchen and sat next to Patrick, her own cup of chocolate in hand. "You make really nice bunnies." She rubbed her hand on Patrick's knee.

Emma smiled excitedly. "Okay." She quickly got to work.

Sam tore her eyes away from the two adorable kids and at the loving parents before her. "So Robin," she was grinning at the brown haired woman, "How does it feel to be home?"

"Amazing." She gripped her husband's knee as she sat her cup on the table and the couple smiled at each other. "It feels even better than I had ever imagined." Patrick leaned in and kissed her cheek and she accepted it graciously. "I hated being away from them but I had to try to save Jason. He never gave up on me so I knew I couldn't give up on him." Her smile softened to apologetic after looking at Sam for a while. "I'm just sorry that I couldn't tell you…"

Sam shook her head. "It's okay."

Patrick grabbed Robin's hand and laced his fingers with hers, then he gave Sam a wary look. "So how did Jason handle it when you told him that you were pregnant?"

Robin stopped mid-picking-up-her-cup and looked to the woman with wide eyes. "I...you're pregnant?" Honestly, she still had hope for Jason and Sam, he was one of her best friends and she always wanted the best for him. But she knew that this would hurt him. She smiled, truly happy for her. None of her reservations could be spotted.

Sam blushed lightly as she pulled a tissue from the box that Patrick had placed beside her and wiped at her stuffy nose. "I thought Patrick would have told you."

He wagged his finger between them. "That was my way of telling her." He informed quickly, ignoring how Robin gazed at him like he was the rudest guy on earth. "But how did he take it?" He wanted the scoop.

Sam looked down at the ruffled paper in her hand. "Well, I haven't told him yet."

"Why?"

"Why would I? Should I have just blurted it out the moment I saw him?" She argued softly. "How was I supposed to say it?"

"If it was any other ex, I would understand that. But this happens to be_ the_ ex. The one that you married and you thought was gone forever." Patrick elaborated.

She rolled her eyes and decided to look over at her son, who brought her peace. "I know." Everyone was quiet until she looked back at her friend. "Have you guys heard from him?"

"Not at all." Robin answered.

"I think he probably went out to get some things together. He hates not having his own space." Sam explained briefly.

"I know what you mean. That's Jason for you." She laughed and opened her mouth to speak but the phone rang, the shrill sound echoing throughout the house. She placed the cup she had just picked up back down and muttered to be excused as she dashed off towards the phone.

Patrick waited until Robin was out of earshot before letting out a breath. "Okay, tell me how Maxie screwed up your entire marriage to Johnny and how did Johnny take it? God, I couldn't imagine being that guy. He's getting bad news back to back."

"You're not helping." She bit her lip apprehensively. "And I didn't tell Johnny yet."

He dropped his head in his hands briefly. "You are really bad at telling your husbands crucial information." He half joked.

Narrowing her eyes, she pushed his shoulder. "Shut up."

"So do you think Jason knows that you're still his wife?" He asked softly.

Her eyes widened. "Of course he knows. He's basically the reason _I_ know."

Patrick sighed and watched her for a while. "So you're going to ask him for a divorce?"

"I have to."

"I just don't see you doing that." He gave his opinion. "I don't think you can."

"Patrick, don't even start." She covered her mouth as she coughed. "I'm living with and pregnant with Johnny's child. Do you think I'm going to just go with Jason and pick up where we left off? Be his wife again after all this time?" She scoffed at the ridiculousness.

He shrugged. "I don't know. I just think you're not taking this hard-at all. If I woke up and found out that Robin and I weren't really married...I would be going crazy."

"It's just a piece of paper." She assured him. "I know where my heart is." She said the words but her voice held a hint of uncertainty.

A few hours later, Sam glanced at her phone and cringed at the time. Robin had gone to General Hospital to handle some business about getting her job back and she stayed and hung out with Patrick all day. It was thirty minutes until Danny was supposed to be in bed and she could tell he was getting restless. He'd just crawled into her lap and rested his head against her chest, signaling that he was tired. She'd stayed there all day, waiting for Jason so that he could hopefully meet Danny but something obviously had come up. She still had to get ready for dinner with her husb-Johnny, _and _tell him that he really wasn't her husband. She shuddered at the thought of what he was going to say and how he was going to react. She knew that Jason being back was hard for him, but to now find out that he wasn't even married to her and Jason still was-she was sure with the stress from this and the stress from work, he was bound to topple over the edge soon.

She looked away from some doctor show rerun that was playing on TV and turned to her friend. "Hey, I'm going to head home."

Patrick, who was dozing off himself, brought his head up and widened his eyes. Emma was asleep across his stomach and he briefly glanced down to make sure the heaviness he felt on his body was indeed his daughter. "Are you sure?" He yawned out the words.

"Yeah. Just tell Jason to call me if he shows up so we can make specific plans." She stood up with her son in her arms.

"Alright. Drive safely." He called like always as she walked to the door. "Bye Danny." He waved as the boy waved from over his mom's shoulder.

She called her goodbyes over her shoulder and focused on carrying the almost-too-heavy boy to her car. She was able to zip up his coat and strap him up into his carseat without much of a fuss. Right before she closed the door, his little hand lifted as he sleepily blinked.

"Mommy, my cuppy."

She looked down in her oversized bag and shuffled through it, finding the purple cup and pulling it out, taking the protective lid off of it for him and placing it in his hands. Chances were, he would barely drink it. He would probably fall asleep before she even pulled away from the house. She closed the door and sighed, pulling her phone from her pocket and texting Molly that she was going to pick her up. Her younger sister had agreed to a change of plans, she was going to spend the night at the house while Johnny and Sam went out for dinner.

Molly replied, telling her that she was ready and then Sam's phone rang before she could get comfortable in the seat of her car. She answered it. "Hey."

"Hey." Johnny mimicked her. "Are you getting ready?"

"I'm actually just leaving Patrick's." She told him carefully. "But I'm going to swing by and pick up Molly because she's going to look after Danny at our house while you're wining and dining me."

"I'll pick her up. Just get home and get ready." He ordered playfully.

"Alrighty," she smiled, "so did you find out anything?" She started the car, the phone pressed between her cheek and her shoulder and she carefully pulled away from the curb, making a turn off of the small residential street.

"Not much. I think we narrowed it down to a few dozen of Russian businesses we work with, but whoever might be working for the Cassadine's has to be doing a hell of a job at blending in." His voice got a little more serious. "But I'll tell you more over dinner."

"Okay." She wanted to help him, she heard the worry in his voice. "Well, I'm already driving down the street." She glanced in her rearview before switching lanes, faintly noting the truck behind her that did the same thing. "I'll see you in a little bit."

"Okay." He almost hung up but called out to her before he did. "Be careful. The roads are kind of slippery."

"I know. Love you."

"Love you." He hung up and she sighed, placing the phone next to her in the passenger's seat.

The road was a lot more still and empty than usual. Only about four cars were even on the road with her and all but the gray truck behind her zoomed ahead of her because when she had her son she drove especially slow and cautious-even more so when there was snow. A little less than halfway home, she drummed her fingers on the steering wheel as she waited for the light to switch to green. This light was known for taking forever and she contemplated just running it until the large truck that had been waiting behind her got over and slid to a halting stop next to her.

She glanced at the driver. He looked to be a man in his early forties, his dark hair was overgrown and messy. He was looking directly at her and she knew he wasn't one of those pervs that made sickening hand gestures and hand motions at her. As soon as she saw this man's seedy, dark eyes, she immediately felt like something was wrong. She was good at sensing these kinds of things and for some reason she got that feeling in the pit of her stomach that something was about to happen. Without making it obvious, she leaned forward, pretending to be intrigued with something on her dashboard and then obsessed with wiping it off. As she slid her hand down, pretending to have completed the task, she slipped open the glove compartment so that her gun was at easy access. She never wanted to get into a shooting match with her son in the car, but if she had no other choice then that was exactly what she was willing to do.

The light was still red and from the corner of her eye she could feel the gaze of the driver's eyes trained on her. Her mind was racing and she didn't know what to do exactly. Initiating a high speed chase would be crazy, only if she was forced into that situation. But a big part of her knew that she needed to let it be known that she was in this situation. Swallowing hard, she inconspicuously reached over to the seat next to her dialed the last number that called her on her phone, which was thankfully Johnny and pressed speaker pretending to grow restless at the relentless red light, for the entertainment of her audience.

"Yes?" He answered the phone knowing it was her.

"Hey Babe," she said, struggling to look casual through the window, raking a hand through her hair. "Um, do you think you could meet me on Walnut Road?"

The light finally turned green.

Johnny instantly picked up on the waver in her voice. "Why, what's wrong?"

Sam was looking down, pretending to be totally enthralled with her cuticles, but she noticed that even though the light had been green for about four seconds, the man was not driving forward. Now, she was certain that something was wrong. "I don't know, there's this weird truck next to me, I think he's following me…" She thought she heard Johnny's tires screech when she said that.

"Weird?" His asked hurriedly. "Why is it weird?" Before she could answer, he cursed. "Fuck, I'm all the way by the pier!" His voice quivered with dread.

When she opened her mouth to talk, the quick gleam of something shiny flickered past the corner of her eye and when she turned to look at the man, she saw the gun pointed at her and threw the car in reverse, speeding backwards just in time to miss the bullet, but her window shattered into a thousand pieces. Her arm flung over the back of the passenger's seat as she looked back, skillfully steering backwards. Quickly, her mind went into overdrive. The PCPD was closer than her house and she didn't want to go back to Patrick's with this mess, so that was her destination. But the truck in front of her began making a very illegal U-turn to get to her.

"Sam, what's going on?! What the hell was that?!" Johnny yelled from the other end of the line. "Sam!"

"He just shot at me!" She yelled helplessly, still watching out of the back window as she drove backwards. Glancing at her son, she was surprised that the loud crash of the broken window didn't wake him. "I'm gonna go to the PCPD, meet me-!" She was cut off by the surprise of the speed that the truck had gained coming towards her when she looked back out of her front windshield. "Shit!" She hissed.

"Sam?!" Johnny had never been so full of fear and rage at the same time as he sat helplessly on the other line, at least twenty minutes away from where she was. "What's happening?!"

"Mommy?" Danny stirred in his sleep.

Sam's foot slammed mercilessly on the brake, one hand leaving the steering wheel to pull up the emergency brake and causing her car to start spinning in a circle so that she was pointed down a different street. Immediately, she hit the gas, barely missing the barreling truck hitting the back of her by just a hair. Tears wanted to cloud her eyes when the big vehicle spun around again to face her. All of this left her no choice. "Johnny, shit! I'm going to have to shoot." She said desperately, grabbing the gun as she flew down the street.

"Sam…" He didn't know what to say or what to do. "Try to hold out, I'm on my way." Hearing Danny's little voice in the background while she was going through this was absolutely frightening.

"Okay, hurry!" She answered distractedly, looking through the rearview as she drove quickly. The truck was gaining on her with record speed so she pressed harder on the gas.

"Don't hang up!" He yelled frantically.

"I'm not!" She yelled back, turning a corner quickly-too quickly, she lost control and swiveled wildly before the SUV leaned on two wheels and then tumbled down the street, flipping at least five times before sliding to an upside down stop on the far side of the icy road.

The truck whizzed past the wreckage without a second look, speeding away from the scene as quick as possible. Danny wailed loudly and it was almost the only sound that could be heard in the quiet, cold night despite the whistling sound of the growing wind. His loud scream echoed in the darkness, pleading for his mommy as a car slid to a stop next to them only minutes after the incident.

The boots tapped against the ground as the person approached the mangled vehicle, leaning down to look inside where the baby was screaming. "Ssshh, hey little buddy, you okay?" The boy struck him as familiar and he didn't know why. He was barely paying attention, he was upside down and reaching for his mother. He tried to detach the straps of the carseat the best he could but it was difficult to do upside down. But with the determination that he had to get the scared little boy from the car, he ripped the straps from the seat and was able to grab him and pull him from the car.

"My mommy." Danny cried, holding onto the strong arms that had just rescued him.

Blue eyes finally caught sight of the woman unconscious behind the wheel and his heart almost flew out of his chest. This was his son, and the woman there was Sam with her hair cascading all around her and blood dripping from a cut on her cheek. Trying to keep his composure, he carried the boy to a safe spot on the side of the road.

"Hey," he said, holding onto the boy's shoulders. "Do you think you can stay here while I go get your mommy out?"

Danny nodded. "Yes."

"Good. Are you okay?" He raked his eyes over him quickly, checking for any harm but he found none.

Danny nodded again. "Yes."

"Okay, good. I'm going to go get your mom out now, alright?" His voice was light and reassuring.

"Is she okay?" Danny asked, on the verge of more tears.

"Yeah, she'll be fine." He assured, rubbing a hand through the boy's blonde hair. "I'll get her out." Instantly, he ducked back to the car at the driver side, scoping out the entanglement and mentally devising a plan to get her out. He tugged at her seatbelt but nothing happened. Cursing under his breath, he leaned in, despite the glass cutting his hand and used his other hand to reach the buckle. Before he pressed the button, he positioned himself on his knees so that when he freed her of the restraint, she would fall into his arms instead of on her head.

It all executed as planned and he pulled her out quickly, hoping to avoid her sliding through the broken pieces of glass beneath them. He carried her to where Danny was and laid her there, holding her head up with one of his hands cupping the back of her head. He brushed her hair out of her face and lightly shook her head, grabbing her chin and almost getting lost in the beauty of her.

"Sam…" He tapped her face with the tips of his fingers. "Sam, come on, wake up."

Even Danny looked up at the man, hearing the desperation in the stranger's voice. She lay there lifeless with his eyes beginning to well more than they already had before. "Is she gonna wake up?"

Jason's heart dropped at the helplessness he heard in the small boy. He would give anything to just watch the bond that the kid had grown with his mother over the years. He'd always wanted that for her. "Yeah," he said unsurely. "She'll wake up. She has to."

As if she heard him, her head moved slowly from side to side and she groaned, a look of pain shooting across her face. "Jason…" She mumbled, her eyes cracked open as she looked up at him. And then just like that, she was out again.

Jason panicked inside and stood up with her limp body safely coiled in his arms. "We're gonna take your mom to the doctor, okay?"

Danny nodded, following after him closely. "Okay." His little voice shook.

He opened the back seat and laid her down in the brand new car that he'd gotten that very day. He'd been working with Diane all day to get a lot of the things that he didn't have like a car, a place to live, money. He felt useless without assets, like he couldn't help anyone and he didn't like relying on Robin and Patrick for a place to stay. As soon as he was done with Diane, he went to check with old contacts about the Cassadine's but came up short, so he was on his way to Robin's to tell her about everything and possibly meet Danny when he'd spotted the overturned car.

"You get to sit up front." He picked the boy up, surprised how comfortable he felt in his arms.

Danny perked up in the slightest way at that. He hardly ever got to sit in the front unless his dad was moving his car from the front of the house to the garage. "In the big boy seat?" He questioned, his voice still shaky. That's what his daddy called it.

"Yeah. The big boy seat." Jason was trying to hide the panic in his voice as she slid into the driver's seat and placed the boy on the seat next to him. He quickly strapped the his son in, started the car and drove off.


	5. Chapter 4

**Sorry this took so long! Life got in the way! But thanks for the great reviews, again! I'm so happy that you guys are into this story! Hope you like this chapter, I only read over it once before posting because I don't know when I'm going to have a chance to do it again, so please excuse the typos, I usually read over a bunch of times before posting!**

**I don't own any of the characters!**

* * *

**FreeBird**

_Chapter 4_

He brought her in almost thirty minutes ago and he hadn't gotten an update yet. He knew that she wasn't hurt too badly. A concussion and a few cuts and bruises. She was still a walking miracle and he was grateful for that. He glanced down at the little boy who had been glued to him the entire time. He sat in his lap, his head resting carefully on his chest and he had just closed his little eyes and dozed off.

Doctor Lee, who was the only familiar face he'd seen so far, had examined the little boy and determined that he was even more lucky than his mom. He had come out of the crash completely unscathed. When he had finally gone to sleep, Doctor Lee took that time to question Jason, asking him how he was alive and what had happened but he politely brushed her off. He didn't have time to catch up when Sam was somewhere back there and he hadn't been updated on her condition. He was barely back in town and something already had happened to her.

And honestly, he didn't have time to talk to Doctor Lee because he was sitting with his son for the first time since he'd known he was actually his and he wouldn't let anything ruin this feeling.

Danny had been scared out of his mind and had been stuck to Jason since the moment they got to the hospital. Even when one of the nurses had asked him if he wanted any candy, he'd looked to Jason and waited for confirmation. He was innocent and scared and he trusted Jason because he watched him save his mother and Jason knew that from that point that they had a bond.

His chin rested on top of the head on his chest and a hand soothingly rubbed his back as Jason's eyes stared straight, directly into nothing, he was deep into his thoughts. All he wanted was to wake up out of this nightmare and return to the night he had planned to spend the rest of his life with Sam and his son. He went back to that night in his head, remembering Danny as a baby in his arms as they sat on the bed, pure happiness around them.

He would never be able to get the joy of her smile out of his head. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw that smile on her face from that night. The truest happiness he'd ever seen her in. For the longest time she thought that she couldn't have kids and then when she did, her baby was pronounced dead _again_. As far down as she'd been most of her life, he knew in that moment on their bed that night he went away, she had finally possessed everything she'd ever wanted. Things that money couldn't buy and that was how he'd always remembered her when he was away from her.

"Who are you? Is that Sam Zacchara's son?"

A man's familiar voice broke through his reveries.

Jason looked and frowned, his eyes raking over the familiar looking man's attire. His brows furrowed. "McBain?" Apparently he'd been gone long enough for John to become a doctor.

Silas got that a lot and would've come back with some snide remark if he wasn't intent on finding out why this man had Sam's kid. "Why do you have Danny?! Who are you?!"

"That is Jason Morgan." Epiphany's loud voice boomed from behind the doctor.

Silas looked amazed and Jason knew that he'd heard of him. "Jason Morgan…" Silas repeated to himself. "I thought you were dead." He looked back at Epiphany. "_That_ Jason Morgan?"

"Yep. _That_ Jason Morgan." Epiphany's grin was wild and happy as she propped a hand on her waist. "Mister Invincible himself!" She laughed happily as she walked towards him and Silas walked away in defeat. "How the hell did you go from being dead and gone to being in the General Hospital waiting room?"

Jason couldn't help but smile just a little bit. "That's a long story."

Epiphany shrugged. "Okay, alright, no pressure." She propped her hands on her his and watched him with Danny. "What are you doing here?" Her finger pointed down at the ground, signaling the hospital itself.

"Sam and Danny were in a car accident." His voice was light.

Her face turned into a worried frown as she walked closer to him. "Oh my god, is-"

"Danny's fine." He assured her. "Sam's back there, they won't let us in right now."

Her frown turned into a determined gaze. "I'll make sure you get back there. Don't worry." She started to walk off before stopping to smile back at him. "He's beautiful, isn't he?" All the nurses knew, so without saying she let him know that she knew that that was his son.

He nodded softly. "Yeah. He is. He's the most beautiful thing in the world."

* * *

Johnny's tires screeched against the icy ground and he hopped out just at his vehicle made a complete stop. His chest felt like it would combust when he saw what was undoubtedly his wife's car turned upside down. He dropped to his knees, nearly crawling towards the car trying to spot his wife and son.

"Sam? Danny?" He was almost screaming, especially when he didn't see anyone in the car. He swallowed a huge lump and his face crumpled in terror as he realized they weren't there. "What the fuck…" He mumbled, standing to his feet and gripping his hair with both hands, scoping out his surroundings. "Sam!" He yelled one last, helpless time before he put his hands over his face, trying to fight the tears that were stinging his eyes.

He never cried. Nothing could make him do so, so this wasn't like him. He moved his hands and sucked in a breath so sharp that it hurt his chest. He had to concentrate, he had to focus and he had to find out where his family was. Getting back down onto his knees, he searched the vehicle for evidence and decided that since the straps to Danny's car seat were torn from the seat, he must have been taken out post crash. Sam's seat belt wasn't destroyed, but he saw blood on the cloth of the safety strap and felt himself go cold with fear.

He stood to his feet and looked both ways, deciding where he should go and what he should do when his phone rang. He could hear the jingle from his car and raced towards it, hoping it was her somehow. Instead, it was a name that he knew too well and his stomach sunk. He frowned slightly before answering it apprehensively.

"Patrick?"

"I just got a call from General Hospital. Sam's there. Her and Danny were in an accident."

"I know. I'm here with the car right now." His breath hitched in his throat before he asked the next question, "Are...are they alright?"

"Danny was brought in without a scratch. Sam's being admitted but they said she wasn't hurt too badly." He informed thankfully. "I'm waiting for Robin to come home before I go up there-"

"No, no, stay with your wife. I'll let you know if anything changes."

"Are you sure?"

"Yep." Johnny let out the breath he'd been holding in and jumped into his car. "I'm on my way to the hospital now. Do you know who took them?" He was scared to ask about the baby, he wanted to ask when he got there. He wanted to read the look on the doctor's face when he asked them about it.

Patrick hesitated slightly. "Jason."

Johnny nodded with a mixture of approval and relief. "Alright, thanks." He hung up before speeding off.

* * *

The doors moved apart automatically, but too slow for Johnny who almost ran straight through them. His eyes slid across the waiting room until they landed on a nurse he didn't really recognize. "Samantha Zacchara?" He asked vaguely but distraught.

The girl seemed alarmed which meant she probably knew who he was. Nervously, she glanced down at the clipboard in her now shaky hands and ruffled through it. "Samantha Zacchara...room 104."

He nodded a single time and glanced around the empty waiting room once more before taking off down the hall. His feet slowed to gradual steps and his shoulders slumped when he came to her dim lit room. Here she was in the hospital again, but this time she wasn't awake and she had a long cut across her face that made his blood boil. When he finally made his way to her bed, his hand rested against her warm cheek to examine the new wound before he carefully sat next to her, leaning over and putting his forehead against hers. Squeezing his eyes shut, a rush of different emotions flooded him as he sat there touching her. He let out a shaky breath and kissed her lips, all of his anger aside for the moment.

"You better be okay." He whispered in loving demand before kissing her forehead and standing upright again. Hearing her on the phone being attacked was one of the most terrifying moments of his life. The thought of never seeing her again crossed his mind and seeing the empty car almost made him believe that that was happening.

Raking a hand through his hair as he stood up, he turned his head to look around the room and almost jumped when he saw the man sitting in the corner with Danny pulled tight to his chest. The blue eyes were trained on him and they didn't waver when his brown ones met them. Their eye contact was lengthy and full of unspoken emotions on both parts. Johnny almost felt defensive and Jason almost felt like an outsider or like he didn't belong. _Almost._

"I tried to lay him down." Jason spoke quietly and his head motioned to the more comfy chair next to him. "But every time I do he starts to cry."

Johnny's hands itched to grab the boy that he'd always known as his son. "The accident probably scared him to death." He suggested.

Jason looked down at the angelic sleeping face. "It did."

He wanted to hold Danny and talk him through what happened, make sure that he understood that he would never let that happen to him again. He wanted to be the one holding him and comforting him while his mother lay unconscious in a hospital bed, but the other part of him was happy that Danny had seemed to find solace in the pair of arms that he had.

"Have they...said anything…" He motioned to Sam and glanced at her.

"A concussion." Jason looked up at Johnny. "A few cuts and bruises."

Johnny was silent, trying to soak everything in and a few seconds later, Doctor Lee walked in, her eyes widening when she saw him. "Mr. Zacchara," she greeted, her smile brightening, "how are you?"

"I'll be a lot better when you tell me that my wife is gonna be fine." He looked down at her, his hand sliding over the top of her head.

"Overall, she's fine, miraculously. It must have been the seat belt that saved her life." She told him with a small smile. "Jason said he had to basically pry it off of her."

His hands came up in prayer position against his lips as he sighed in relief. He'd actually had those seatbelts installed customly a little after she bought the car. She'd called him overprotective and he was going to tease her about this when she woke up.

But right now, his mind was still slightly clouded and he hesitated when asking the question he was afraid of being answered. "And...how's the baby?"

Jason stopped breathing, stopped moving, stopped everything when Johnny's words slowly floated to his ears. _His _Sam was pregnant with someone else's child. And damn, it hurt. He wasn't even sure if he'd ever felt this kind of excruciating pain before. It felt like being stabbed with a dagger to the gut. He didn't want to know, he didn't _need_ to know that she was having a baby with Johnny. And suddenly he registered exactly how much she'd moved on from his "death." The extent to how far she'd gone was starting to make him feel guilty for actually being alive. He'd come back to Port Charles and disrupted everything she'd made for herself after losing him. And that was beginning to weigh him down and make him feel like his presence wasn't wanted. The small spark of hope that he could still get her back was beginning to dim.

"We're not sure yet. We're still running tests." She told him sadly.

Johnny covered his mouth with his hand, rubbing at the stubble beginning to grow there. His other hand propped on his side. "When are you gonna know?"

"Well, given her condition and history of unfortunate pregnancy complications, I've put a rush on all of the tests and the results. The sooner we know the better the chance of securing any problems with the pregnancy." When his head dropped, she ducked her head to see his face but his eyes were closed. "I assure you, we're doing everything we can."

He nodded blindly and looked back at her. "And she's fine, right? You're one-hundred percent sure that she'll wake up?"

"We can never be one-hundred percent." She enlightened. "But everything points to yes. She should wake up any minute now." The doctor smiled at him and gave his shoulder a caring rub and then glanced at Jason sadly before walking out.

Jason stared at Sam, keeping his eyes trained on her as he opened his mouth to speak. "She must've slid off the road. When I found them, the car was upside down."

"I know. I just came from the scene." He whispered, looking towards the man seriously.

"How did you know where it was?" He almost sounded accusing. His face even deepened in a frown.

"Sam called me right before it happened. She wanted me to meet her there. Someone was shooting at her, trying to kill her when she crashed." He removed his large coat, tossing it across the foot of her bed and then pulled the round little stool that the doctor's usually sat on over near the bed to sit next to her. "I heard it when it happened." He admitted brokenly.

"Who tried to kill her?" Jason's anger flared and he would've clenched his fists had he not been holding the most precious thing in the world.

"You know who." Johnny tilted his head towards him. "At the end of the day, this all comes back to Stavros, Victor and Helena."

Jason had to admit, he was surprised that Sam had told him so soon. He wasn't used to him giving her information and then her going off to tell another person right away. He knew it was the right thing for her to tell him, though. She needed Johnny to be prepared, but he just wasn't used to not being the one she always went to for help.

"Why would they want to kill Sam?" He knew the Cassadine's wanted to take over, but immediately targeting Sam was insane.

Johnny smirked sardonically. "Not to sound self absorbed but...I basically own half of Port Charles, if not more," he started quietly, "And if they want to get to me, they're going to do so through the things that I love the most. Come on, you know how that works." He glanced at his wife, impatiently waiting for her to wake up.

He did. In fact, he'd had many sleepless nights just worrying about something happening to her because of his lifestyle. Every time she ended up hurt or in the hospital because of him, he'd wanted to die. He thought back to when she'd been shot and how he left her, which was the hardest thing he ever had to do. But he felt it was for her safety and he was always willing to do anything to keep her safe. And in Johnny's eyes, he could see the same, heart-staking love.

Johnny's eyes fell to the little boy again. He was still dying to hold him. "Thank you." He said after a quiet while.

"You don't have to thank me." Jason replied, shaking his head to reject the words.

"I know, but I am anyway." Their eyes met again, this time in understanding. It was quiet for a while until Johnny cleared his throat and tiredly waved a hand towards Danny. "He's reserved. Quiet but loving." Johnny said with the tiniest grin. "He acts a lot like you. Aside from the fact that he smiles." Johnny offered a small joke to lighten the mood.

And Jason's mouth twitched in the slightest at the corners. "How so?"

"Well, he's completely stubborn." Johnny shrugged softly and mindlessly grabbed Sam's hand. "But then again he could get that from this one over here." His head nodded towards the woman next to him.

Jason did smile at that. "Sam's a little more stubborn than me."

"I wouldn't doubt it. The girl is _insane_. She's _this_ big," he held up his hand, his thumb and forefinger about an inch away from each other a big smile on his face, "and she wants to fight the world all at once." The look on his face proved he loved to talk about her.

"Don't let her fool you, she's got the skills." Jason defended her with a slight lift of his brows.

"Trust me, I know. She would be all over this Cassadine thing if she wasn't preg-" Johnny stopped and his smile crumpled when Jason's eyes flickered down and he felt like an asshole for saying what he was about to say so freely. He hadn't missed the look on his face when he'd asked Dr. Lee about the baby. He had no desire to rub anything in the man's face. After all, it wasn't his fault that he had to leave Sam behind for so long and he never planned on ever disrespecting Danny's real father.

Johnny looked down ashamed. "Sorry." He muttered.

For some odd reason, Jason understood the apology but shook his head anyway. "Don't be sorry." But wasn't going to let the guy apologize for living his life and being happy.

"It's inconsiderate." He said roughly. "That's why I'm sorry. I know you didn't ask for any of this."

He didn't know what to say to that, so he shrugged. "I chose this lifestyle."

"Yeah, but you probably wouldn't have if you knew beforehand exactly what it would cost you." Johnny countered again.

Jason was going to let him win this one, in part because he was right. Maybe, if he would have known that he would fall dangerously in love with Sam and have the beautiful life that he had been missing out on, he would probably have made better choices.

He reared his head back as Danny shifted in his arms, his hands coming up to rub his tiny, sleepy eyes. He yawned and his eyes flickered open and he looked up into the face of the man that was holding him, only confused for about three seconds before he remembered why he was asleep in this man's lap.

"Mommy…" He mumbled, starting to look around the room when his eyes landed on Johnny. The blue orbs widened and he almost flew out of Jason's hands. "Daddy!" His tiny feet tapped across the floor as he lept into Johnny's arms.

"Whoa," Johnny was overwhelmed by the amount of relief he felt in the boy's hug. "Hey, are you okay?"

Jason was almost hurt, but he was happy that his son had someone in his life like Johnny. Someone that he could feel that completely safe with, someone he trusted to protect him and comfort him.

"We rolled, Daddy! We rolled and we flipped in the car a lot!" He looked scared and anxious as he told the story.

"You did? You didn't get hurt, did you?" He ran his hands over his hair and then his shoulders as he sat comfortably on his lap. Hearing his little voice soothed him.

"No, but Mommy did. She was bleeding and she went to sleep." He yawned again and then pointed to Jason. "And he saved me and Mommy."

"I know, Buddy." He hugged him.

"Mommy's still asleep?" He questioned and he sounded worried.

"Yeah, all that flipping and rolling made her really sleepy. But she'll wake up soon." Johnny looked up and felt saddened by the look in Jason's eyes. He waved a hand towards him. "You know, Jason here is an old friend of your mom's."

"He knows my mom?" Danny questioned, intrigued by the news.

"Yeah, ever since you were just an itsy, bitsy, little baby." He grabbed his nose between his fingers, wiggling it.

Danny laughed and moved away before looking back at Jason. "You're my mom's friend?"

Jason nodded, tears almost clouding his eyes for no apparent reason. The fact that this was his son in the living flesh, right before his eyes started to overwhelm him. His mouth opened before his broken voice came out. "Yeah. I'm a friend of your mom." He leaned forward, his elbows propped on his knees. "I've uh...known your mom for a...really long time."

"I've never seen you be my mom's friend before." He was innocently suspicious.

Johnny snorted a quick laugh. "Danny, that's rude. You can't say that." He was amused at the boy's pure uncertainty.

"I had to go away for a while." Jason explained anyway. "But now I'm back."

"Are you gonna go away again?" The boy scratched his head as he slid from Johnny's lap and between his legs, his feet touching the ground and his arms resting on Johnny's thighs.

"No," Jason answered, his eyes flickering to Johnny in somewhat of a message, "I'm never leaving again."

Johnny heard the underlying warning, the plea for some sort of acceptance in his Danny's father's voice and for the sake of the ones he loved he was willing to accept it. "Good." Johnny said quietly.

Sam groaned behind them and Johnny spun around, hoisting Danny up as he stood quickly. He was at her side in record time and Jason was at the other. Her eyes slowly fluttered open and the first thing she saw when she woke up was a bright smile on her son's face.

"Mommy!" He yelled and reached for her.

"Baby!" She knew she couldn't hold him so she just grabbed his flailing hands and gripped them as best she could.

She smiled sluggishly until the memories of why she was lying there came rushing back to her like a gust of ruthless wind. Her face turned into a fearful frown as she looked up at Johnny and then over at Jason. His piercing blues did surprise her. For a split second during her panic, she wondered why he was there.

"My baby?" She grabbed her tummy instinctively.

"They're running tests right now. But so far everything looks good." He wanted to grab her up and run away, him holding Danny was the only reason she wasn't in his arms at the moment. He released one hand from around his son to wipe her hair away from her face. "You were lucky."

She reached up to touch Danny. "He wasn't hurt?" Her voice was clouded with tears. She grabbed his leg, rubbing it apologetically.

"No, he was fine. I told you that car seat was state of the art. He didn't get a scratch."

"Good. I'm so sorry, baby." Sam told her son sadly. "Mommy's so sorry." Her words slurred with how tired she felt.

"Your friend Jason saved us, Mom. He got us out." He pointed across the bed at Jason.

Sam turned to look at Jason and gave him a sleepy smile. "Thank you so-"

"Don't uh, don't thank me." He shook his head and stuffed his hands in the pockets of his jeans. "You know I don't mind." His eyes searched the wall behind her head as he tried to find the appropriate words. "You know I would do anything for you." His voice was barely audible as his eyes found their way back to hers.

Sam gazed up at him for a few moments before nodding. "I know you would." She murmured back.

Johnny took a deep breath, glancing between the two and their disturbing eye contact. "Sam, you're about to hate what I have to say but as soon you're out of the hospital, you have to get out of town."

Sam looked over at him quickly, suddenly with more energy than she'd just had. "I'm not leaving you here to do this by yourself." She shook her head, totally against it.

"I'll help him." Jason spoke up. "We'll get to the bottom of this. But I think Johnny's right, you need to leave." His hand raised to the little one. "What about Danny?"

"I'll send him away with my mom and I'll stay here and," she glanced between the two of them hysterically, not willing to be left out.

"You're pregnant." Jason announced like she didn't know.

Sam stared at him, finally realizing that he knew resonated between the both of them as their eye contact lingered yet again. She tried to read his reaction to the news as he stood there trying to hide it. She wanted to apologize to him but she wasn't sorry. She was only sorry that somewhere in him, he was hurt by this.

"I know." She croaked the words out and her breathing started to become labored. "I know, but, I can't just leave. People I love are here." Her eyes found their way back to Johnny.

"And you know I'll protect them." His words overlapped hers. "All of them."

"Okay, but I don't want to just leave _you_ here. This is serious, this is not just some little disagreement with another organization or another mob, this is serious." She stopped to take a deep breath.

"Sam, this is what I do, remember? But I need you to think about the baby that you're carrying. Think about our kids." He was getting irritated that she wasn't agreeing to just get out of here. He needed her out of harms way.

"I am, Johnny. And I think being apart might be a lot worse than us staying together." She was holding back major tears for the sake of her son.

"Sam, can you please just understand?! I'm about to be in the line of fire!" He hissed but quickly stopped when Danny laid his head on his shoulder for comfort. He closed his eyes to compose himself and when he reopened them he was slightly more calm. "I'm gonna go find the doctor. See what's going on."

"I'll do it." Jason spoke up, feeling completely out of place during their argument. "I'll uh, take Danny with me. Get him some food or something." He didn't want his son to witness the ensuing disagreement that was about to take place between the two people the little boy loved the most. And of course, he wanted to spend more time with him.

Reluctantly, Johnny nodded at him as he walked over, mildly surprised at how easily Danny crawled into the larger man's arms. Johnny ran a hand through Danny's hair. "Jason's gonna take you to get some snacks, okay?" He reached into his pocket for his wallet.

Jason held up his hand. "I got it."

Sam watched the exchange as her breathing evened and then reached out for her son. "Come kiss Mommy." Jason walked over and leaned down with the boy and Sam's fingers wiggled until his face was in her hands. She pressed a quick kiss to his lips and smiled at him. "I love you, sweetheart." She whispered.

"Love you." He mumbled. "Do you want a snack?"

"Why yes please, bring Mommy a snack." She smiled gratefully, feigning most of her cheeriness.

"What snack?" He asked excited to be doing something for her.

"You pick." She told him.

With a little arm hooked around Jason's neck, he looked to Johnny. "Daddy, do you want a snack?"

He shook his head. "No thanks, I'll just eat Mommy's." He pointed to Sam and tried to smile but the way he felt wasn't letting him produce a real one.

Danny smiled. "Okaaaaay." He sang with a small wave as Jason walked out with him.

When Johnny was sure that they were out of earshot, he turned to Sam sharply, a hand spearing through his dark locks. "Look, I don't want to argue about this, Sam, but-"

"Then don't, Johnny." She pleaded desperately. "Because you know me. You know that I can't just leave you here to deal with this without me, I-."

"Sam, put our kids first, okay! Think about what happens if Danny loses us both!" He couldn't yell at her, so he lowered his voice to an angry whisper. "Or even worse, loses all three of us!"

It stabbed her heart to think about, but she was sure that they would be stronger together. "So are you planning on dying? Because I think you have a whole hell of a lot better chance of living with me by your side!" Her face was scrunched with sadness.

"Sam-"

"And you don't even know who's working for the Cassadine's and who's not! What if you send us away and they follow us or they know exactly where we are and they come for us then?! What if we're in just as much danger away from you as we are with you?!" Her voice broke as she raised her voice and a single tear slid down her cheek.

Johnny sunk down on the bed, sitting next to her. He grabbed her hands and looked down at them, his fingers ran over the wedding ring she wore, trying to fight off his frustration. "If you could've been...on my side of the phone when I heard what was happening to you earlier tonight…" His voice was quiet and raspy and he stopped to swallow hard. "If you could feel how I feel right now. How scared I am, how crazy my mind is going...how I just want to shoot every fucking body in Port Charles, just to make sure that nothing happens to you..." When his voice shook he tilted his head and put his hand under her chin, lifting her face to look up at him. "You would understand why I need you to go."

And Sam knew that she would at that very moment. The pain in his eyes was an indescribable look. One that she'd never seen and one that broke her from the inside out-she never wanted to see it again. It made her eyes water, it made a stabbing pain build in her throat which made it hard to talk with a steady tone. "I don't want to leave and then something happens to you. I'm scared of that." She admitted. "And Johnny, I don't want to leave and something happens to me or Danny, either. I'm scared of that, too. We don't even know who to trust anymore." She sat up slowly, the pain in her body causing the lack of speed with the movement.

"That's why…" He paused for a few drawn out seconds. "That's why, I'm not sending you with anyone that I work with or anyone that I do business with." He pushed a piece of hair out of her face and smiled sadly at her. "I'm sending you with someone who probably loves you as much as I do."

Sam wanted to protest, she wanted to argue and tell him not to but at the same time, she knew it was the only person that they could trust right now who had the skill and motivation to care about what happened to her and Danny. "Johnny…" She said his name and didn't really know what to say after that.

"He loves you." Johnny said and the words almost tasted sour. "He wouldn't let anything happen to you, he's highly trained. People fear him." He told her the reasons this was a good decision. "Sam, he loves Danny."

She covered her face to calm herself but ended up sobbing. "Johnny…" She cried.

He ducked his head, trying to see her eyes somehow. "I wouldn't trust anyone else with you and Danny's life." He frowned sadly as he watched her go through her emotions. "You know it's the right thing to do, Sam. You know he'll protect you with his life."

She moved her hands and wiped the tears from under her eyes with the pads of her fingers. "I know, I just…" She sniffed and let out a breath. "Everything is so screwed up. Just last week everything was perfect and now…" She shook her head and looked directly into his brown eyes. Blinking slowly, she grabbed his hand again. "I love you."

"I love you, too." He cleared his throat and looked away, trying to fight the urge to cry. He hadn't been as close to tears as he'd been in the last few days for a very long time. He used his free hand to wipe some of the wetness from her sad face. "It'll be okay." He promised.

Somehow, this felt like the appropriate time to tell him about their marriage situation. She was probably not going to have anymore alone time with him for God knew how long. Her eyes closed as his hand wiped at her cheeks. "Johnny, I...I have to tell you something."

"Go 'head." He pushed her hair out of her face again, staring at her and listening intently.

She sighed heavily. "Well," she started leisurely, "Um, when I filed for a divorce from Jason while he was missing...there were some complications that I didn't know about."

"Complications? What kind of complications?" He was confused.

"Um, well, the documents, they never got filed." She blurted. "So, technically, I'm legally still married to Jason." With the look on his face, she was better off stabbing him with a knife in his side.

"How can that be? What about us? You can't be married to both of us…" His voice trailed off as he realized what she was saying. "You're not married to both of us." He stated evenly. "You're married to him. You're married to Jason." He was telling her and waiting for her to tell him he was wrong. And when she never corrected him, his eyes doubled in size.

The wild look in his eyes as he stood up almost killed her. She tried to grab his hand but he was too busy pushing them through his hair. "Johnny, please…"

"No, it's okay. We can get this fixed." He assured, mainly speaking to himself. "It's not a big deal." He took a deep breath and finally looked at her. "It's not a big deal." He repeated, this time the words were actually directed to her. "It's just a piece of paper, it can't change the way I love you." He was desperate to convince them both.

"That's right." She promised with a small smile, waving for him to give her his hand.

He kissed hers and sat right back down next to her, where he knew he'd always be, by her side. He watched her eyes for a few quiet seconds before sighing. "I'm leaving the business. I was actually planning on leaving a few days before everything started spiraling out of control." He shook his head at her with a small smile. "I don't want to put you guys in this kind of danger anymore. I just want to get away from here."

"So why not just give it to the Cassadine's now?" She questioned. "If they want everything, give them everything." She sounded hopeful, as if it was actually a possibility and she didn't have to go away.

"That's not exactly how it works." He told her but she already knew. "You know as well as I do that I have to finish making preparations before we just up and leave. Sonny was lucky because I was there to take over and we were on good terms, but he even left because he knows the consequences." He sighed as he looked at her. "I want to make everything legit as possible so that you can still be with your family or at least see them on a regular basis. I have a feeling that if I just handed the Cassadine's the organization, they would kill me on the way out the door."

"So how were you gonna leave in the first place?" She looked worried as she watched the stress engulf his features.

"I'm looking into someone to pass the business on to. I've been thinking about Max and Milo. Max has been in longer than me, they're both loyal, I trust them." He loved expressing his thoughts to her. His concerns, his fears, his plans. It was like talking to his best friend. "That way I can still be minimally involved, I still have a healthy amount of income but I'm not as involved as I am now. I don't want to call the shots anymore. I don't want to be the head of this thing, anymore."

Sam put a hand to his face and felt for the guy. She nodded her head. "I'll take Danny and get out of here as soon as they release me. You just have to promise to stay focused and settle this so that we can be together."

He knew she was going to do what he asked so that he wasn't as stressed out as he was right now. As stubborn as she was, there was a rare occasion or two where she put all of that aside just to make him happy. That was one reason why he loved her so much and a reason that he knew she loved him so much.

"I promise you." He said seriously. "That's all I want." He whispered, rubbing her face.

Someone cleared their throat at the door and when the both of them looked towards it, they saw Doctor Clay standing there with a pen situated behind his ear and a clipboard tucked under his arm. "How are you feeling, Miss McCall?" He said it purposely to press buttons.

"Mrs. Zacchara." She and Johnny corrected simultaneously.

Silas smiled wryly. "Whatever." He mumbled, lifting a few sheets on the board in his hands to look at her paperwork. "I have the results for your tests...everything seems to be fine. No hemorrhaging. No blood or fluid loss...yet again, you have cheated death." He told her wryly.

Her face was confused as to whether he was complimenting her or not, so she glanced up at Johnny before unsurely answering. "Thanks...I guess." But her hand tightened around Johnny's in relief. "Does this mean I can go home?"

"After we run a few more tests." He tucked the clipboard under his arm again as he stood at the foot of her bed. "We like to be thorough around here. But as of right now, everything looks fine." He glanced around. "You can go back to your dangerous little mob life, I'm sure I'll see you in here again soon."

Ignoring him, Johnny nodded blindly and closed his eyes, leaning down to kiss her head. "Thank God." He muttered against her skin as Silas exited the room.

Sam grabbed his arm and let out a breath into the crook of his neck, fighting the urge to cry. Soon, she would be leaving him. She hadn't done that since they'd met. And suddenly the thought overwhelmed her. Everything was about to change and everything was going to differ, the scary part was she didn't know how long this shift in their relationship was going to last. She gripped on tighter, trying to hold onto to any part of him she could for the time being.

* * *

Jason stood in the dark living room of his new penthouse, staring out of the window as he often did when he was in thought. The events of the past few days had began to take a toll on him. The overall sadness of this horrible situation was finally beginning to make a home inside of him and the reality of what really was kept sinking further and further in. He was always good at bottling his emotions, but he'd never had so many different feelings at one time. He never felt like he could spontaneously combust the way he feared he would sometime soon.

He'd lost everything that had ever mattered to him and he was left pretty much alone. Ironically, the way he used to think he'd always be. For his lifestyle, he had always known that it was only best that he was alone. But now, he didn't even know what his lifestyle was. Even _that_ was taken away from him, too. Sonny was gone, Port Charles and most of the mob businesses belonged to Johnny and there was no way he could just go up to the guy and take it all back or pick up where he left off. He was tempted, but there were more important things at hand right now.

And his happiness...there was a smidge of that in him. He was happy, to say the least, that Danny had taken to him the way he had. There was nothing he could have wanted more than for his son to be as comfortable with him the way he was. He could still feel the little hands resting carelessly on his shoulders as he carried him around the hospital. The boy talked to him about Yo Gabba Gabba-whatever that was-and cartoons that he watched. He talked to him about riding his bike and playing basketball with his dad...his _dad_...Jason was beginning to shudder at that. At first, it hadn't bothered him very much but the more he thought about it and the Sam he used to know, he got more and more confused as to why she wouldn't have raised the boy knowing who his real father was. He felt he had no right to question her motives, but he never thought that Sam would have put him in that position. Sadly enough, he had thought about dying and leaving Sam and kids-if they ever had any-behind and he never in a million years thought that she would have hid him away from the kid like she had done. Maybe she wasn't the same woman anymore.

A firm knock beat against his door and he frowned before walking slowly over to it. No one knew where he lived just yet and he wanted to keep it that way. When he opened it, he was slightly shocked that he hadn't expected it to be her. Of course she would find out where he lived.

"Jason," she whispered his name, sheer shock painted all over her face. "It's true. You're really here." A flattened hand rested over her stomach as she stopped herself from doubling over in wretched, happy tears.

His eyes smiled but his mouth barely did. "Yeah. I'm alive, Carly."

Her lip trembled as she nearly knocked him down, wrapping his neck with her arms, the clinking of bracelets around her wrists echoing in the dark, quiet room. "When Sam called me, I thought...I thought she was going crazy again." She shook her head and backed away, trying to clear her head as tears rushed her eyes. She shut them briefly to think. "Not that she was crazy. I mean obviously she wasn't," she motioned to him as her eyes opened, "you're alive. But we all thought she was crazy and delusional when you first…" She stopped and shook her head again, a happy, tearful smile gracing her. "Nevermind. I just looked into what she told me and was able to get your address."

"I have to do something about it being that easy to find me." He told her with a joking glint in his eyes.

"Yes, you do." She nodded, tearfully smiling from ear to ear.

He moved over and waved his hand inside. "Come in."

She proudly walked in, wiping tears from her face as she did. "You did a good job at making this place look like your old one." She noted, the wave in her voice disappeared.

He clicked the light on. "I like my places a certain way." He could practically feel the load on her chest that she wanted to get off.

She cleared her throat. "I don't mean to jump on your case right away, but you've been back for four days. How could you have not come to see me?" When she was near the couch that looked extremely similar to the one in his last penthouse, she spinned to look at him, her face accusing.

His eyes narrowed at her as he closed the door and walked to her. "I was going to." Was all he could say.

"When? When everyone else knew first?" Her jaw stiffened a bit.

She was still the same old Carly. "When my head was clear." He responded, a bit defensively. "I had a lot on my mind. I had a lot to deal with."

"What, like Sam?" She knew she should've backed off, but it wasn't in her nature.

He nodded slowly. "Yeah," he said simply, his eyes darting around the room before landing on her again. "Like Sam."

She couldn't believe her ears. "So you went to see Sam first?!" She said like it was the most ridiculous thing.

"She's my wife, Carly!" He didn't know how to call her anything else.

"Newsflash, _was_ your wife." Carly retorted quickly. "Or did she forget to bring that up?"

"Technically, she is...my wife." He cleared his throat and rubbed at his chin. "The divorce was never filed."

Her eyes widened and she snapped her mouth shut before smiling dryly. "Well, she played that right, didn't she? She gets to have her cake and eat it, too."

"Carly, Carly, stop…" He warned, rubbing his eyes and dropping his head. This was the annoyingness that he missed in some weird type of way. "Don't attack Sam. She didn't do anything."

"She didn't do anything? Jason, are you blind?" She scoffed, waving her hand at him before propping it on her hip. "I have a lot of concerns about the way Sam handled things when we all thought you were dead. The fact that she moved on five seconds after you disappeared is only one of them. And now she's parading your son around town like he's a fucking Zacchara…" She stopped to step closer to him. "You do know Danny's yours, right?"

He nodded, one hand on his hip and one rubbing at his chin again. "Yeah, she told me."

Her dry smile widened. "Wow, I'm almost proud of her." She spoke sarcastically. "Too bad the boy is going to think you're a total stranger instead of his father. What if he's scared of you and doesn't want to get to know you? Josslyn knows exactly who you are to this day." Her finger pointed at him.

"He's...he's not scared of me. I met him. He actually really likes me." His voice was just above a whisper as he talked.

Her eyes squinted in confusion and she quickly shook her head. "Wait, how long have you been here again? Don't tell me these last four days have been spent with Sam." Finally, she sat down on the couch and sighed, rubbing at her forehead. "You know, I wanted him to come over to my place and get to know me and my kids but the bitch wouldn't let me take him with me. I only got to see him when she was with him." She thought maybe she sounded like a whiny little brat, but there was no one other than Jason that she could be this whiny to and get away with it.

"I don't think it had anything to do with you, Carly. I think it had to do with uh, who you're seeing." He said the words softly.

Carly snorted and looked away from him, not prepared to show him the guilt in her eyes. "She told you that too, huh? I bet she was just dying to get that out. I bet that was the first thing she said." Her voice was scathing.

"Carly, he's dangerous."

"Jason, he's changed." She repeated in an identical tone. "He's not the same Franco that tortured us." She pleaded, closing her eyes and dropping her face in her hands.

"Yes he is, Carly. He's the _exact _same Franco that tortured us, raped my wife and made me believe he fathered my child. He's the same Franco that had your son raped in prison!" His voice rose somewhere along the way and his finger pointed accusingly at her. She shook her head and stood up as he moved closer to her. "He threatened your daughter…"

"No, no, no, he didn't do any of that. He didn't do any of that." She cried, dying to fill him in on events he'd missed that proved him wrong. "That's not true! He didn't rape Sam, he didn't cause that to happen to Michael. There's proof! He-"

His icy eyes studied her. "I don't care! He wanted me to think that he did! I ran around in circles trying to protect the people I love because of that freak! And now you're dating him?!" He boomed.

"I love him." She corrected stubbornly. "I'm in love with him. I don't expect you to approve of it, but I expect you to respect it." Her bottom lip shook as she cried. "You fell in love with and married a woman that had a baby with my husband…" She seemed disgusted at the thought.

He sighed and waved a dismissive hand at her. "Carly, that's different and you know it."

"Is it? Because it still hurt me, none the less." Carly challenged. "She destroyed my marriage and destroyed Michael's home!" She blamed.

"Don't blame Sam! You and Sonny did that all on your own!" He defended sharply.

She looked surprised as he defended the unpresent woman. "It doesn't matter! I still respected your decision!"

"When?" He asked sardonically, his brows deepened. "Because I remember Sam putting up with a lot of shit for you. You were always bursting in uninvited and demanding my attention..."

Her eyes narrowed again and she scoffed. "My God, nothing's changed. You never see anything bad that she does, do you?"

"Carly, don't start." He begged tiredly.

"No, seriously. Can the girl do anything wrong?" She was face to face with him now. "Jason, she watched what Elizabeth did to you with Jake. She watched the the regret and the shame that you felt for not having a more active role in his life. And then when you 'die'," she used air quotes, "she turns around and pegs him off as Johnny's kid?" She waited for a response but he said nothing. "I don't care how much you deny it, you know it's wrong." After a few seconds of him saying nothing, she walked around him and to the door, swinging it open before looking back. "Welcome home." She told him before slamming it behind her.

Putting both of his hands on his waist, he sighed, completely in thought. "Welcome home." He said to himself. He scratched the side of his head before he felt his phone vibrate. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled it out and looked at the text he had received.

**It's Johnny. Meet me at my house 2232 Tulare Ln. **

**We need to talk**

**It's urgent**

Jason sighed and walked over to the desk by the door, pulling his brand new leather jacket from the back of the chair and slipping it on before leaving out of the door.

* * *

Snow crunched beneath his feet as he walked through the heavy snow, making his way towards the man who had somehow managed to find an exact replica of the leather jacket that his wife still had in the back of their closet. It had been recovered a few weeks after Jason had gone missing and he used to find her sleeping with it sometimes, her pillow drenched in tears. He couldn't have imagined the gut wrenching pain she was going through back then, but now he could. Just the thought of losing her made him want to lay down and die.

"You got here fast." Johnny attempted to make small talk.

"What do you need?" Jason asked, jumping straight to the point, never looking at him.

Johnny didn't answer right away. "I need you to take Danny and Sam out of town."

Jason glanced around to face Johnny, almost speechless. "I thought we agreed I was going to help you take down the Cassadine's?"

"I can do that on my own." Johnny told him firmly. "I just need to make sure that they're safe and I don't trust anyone with them the way that I trust you with them."

Jason buried his hands in his pockets and sighed, the act barreling out of his mouth in a cold, white cloud. "How do you know Sam's gonna agree to this? She's stubborn. She probably won't-"

"She already agreed." He cut him off. "She's at home packing as we speak." He saw the bewildered look in Jason's eyes. "Sam understands that by her being pregnant and having Danny, she won't be much help here."

"She agreed to go with _me_?" Jason asked. He was sure he looked confused.

"Don't get too excited." Johnny snorted with a tad of humor, his half smirk shining. "I just need you to protect her."

Jason didn't smile in return. "I always will."

"Good." He speared his hands into his heavy coat and lifted his shoulders as he shivered from the cold. "So, I'll provide everything. I have everything ready anyway."

"Where exactly am I taking them?"

"Cross-country roadtrip. At Sam's request."

"Road trip?" He looked around before asking, "Why would she want that?"

"She's not a big flyer. She's more of a scenic girl." He told the man that already knew. "And she insists that the two of you make a stop in Seattle." His envy was well hidden.

A smile tempted his mouth. "Spinelli." He said knowingly.

"Yeah. That kid is dying to see you." He smiled, remembering how happy he'd sounded over the phone hearing the news.

The air was silent as the both of them looked off into the nothing that surrounded Johnny and Sam's house. Johnny briefly wondered how the man was standing there without shivering. Johnny wore a lot more clothing and was still freezing to death and the man across from him had yet to even shudder.

"When do we leave?" Jason finally asked.

"As soon as Sam's done packing." He jerked his head towards his house. "You can come inside and wait."

Nodding, Jason started to follow Johnny to his home.

* * *

As soon as he walked through the front door, he smelled her. Or at least it was a smell that she would like. It was almost overwhelming. This is what their life should have smelled like. Crisp, fresh snow and holiday pies. He heard men laughing somewhere in the distance and Danny's little voice explaining something as he closed the door behind him. He took the time to look up at the Victorian style ceiling and realized that in his absence, Sam had gotten everything she'd always wanted.

"That's Aldo and Dezi." He explained the laughter briefly. "Two of my best enforcers. They're going to help me bring down the Cassadine's." He motioned down a lengthy walkway. "I've also had them trailing Sam ever since the accident a few days ago."

"Good." Jason stopped near the staircase when Johnny did. "What have you found so far?"

"I think I've narrowed it down to some Russian's that I do business with." He told Jason willingly, lifting his hands to his dark hair and combing through it. "I've narrowed it down to the Ivanov's and the Kovalev's."

"Why are you narrowing it down to only Russian organizations?"

"Because they have a sense of liability to the Russian royalty." His head tilted in thought. "And after thoroughly looking into them, I realized that they were the only ones with connections to the Cassadine's."

"Connections?" Jason seemed worried.

"Yes, either they had done or had planned on doing business with them." Johnny informed.

Jason was impressed with him. "So what are you going to do?"

"Find out which one of them gave the Cassadine's information. And then I'm just going to wipe them all out. No need to ask questions that I already know the answers to." He shrugged easily.

Jason had to admit, he liked this new, mature and business wise Johnny Zacchara. He wasn't reckless and erratic like he remembered but he hadn't lost himself or where he came from. He was still very much aware of his role, how important it was and what he had to do to keep the ones he loved safe. He admired his dedication.

"Danny's been asking about you for the past two days. You should go see him." Johnny pointed down the hall. "I'm gonna go see if Sam is ready."

Jason nodded. He wasn't familiar with being ordered around but since it had to do with his son, he was willing to take it in. He slowly walked down the length of the hall, the boy's easygoing voice got closer. He finally spotted the back of his son's head as he told his story.

"...And then Jason came, and he used his muscles on my seat," he was saying, "and he pulled me and Mommy out! And he drove really really fast!"

Jason's arms crossed as he leaned against the wall listening. He had no choice but to smile.

"He's really strong!" Danny continued.

"Ah, I'm not that strong." Jason feigned being modest, waving a hand his way.

"Jason!" Danny nearly tripped over his own feet running to him.

Jason swooped him up easily and accepted the hug. "Hey, how ya' been?" He whispered.

"My mom said you're taking us on a trip!" He leaned back to say in Jason's face.

"Well, she's right. I am." Jason answered.

"Are we going to Disney World?" Danny wondered.

"If you want to go to Disney World, then I'll take you to Disney World." He promised.

Danny's face lit up and he looked over his shoulder at the two men who had stood up from the dining table. "See! Told you I'm going to Disney World!"

One of the men, who was extremely tall, laughed as he made his way to Jason and stuck his hand out. "I'm Aldo." He chucked a thumb behind him with his free hand. "That's Dezi. We've heard all tons of shit about you." He put his hand up in halt. "Good shit, just so you know."

"Yeah," Dezi spoke up, "we heard you're one of the best shooters on the east coast." His Italian accent was strong and his voice was high pitched. He was a little shorter than Jason and was more pudgy than muscled, which couldn't be said about Aldo.

Jason teetered his head, never good with taking compliments. "Thank you."

"And the Misses tells us you make a mean Chicken Cacciatore." Dezi smiled heavily. "Maybe you can whip something up for us, huh?"

The two men laughed heartily and Jason smiled, flattered that Sam spoke about him to Johnny's men. "Maybe one day." He lied.

"What's a shicken catch-a-dory?" Danny was confused and looked to Jason for answers.

Jason smiled at him softly. "The way your mom cooks, you'll probably never know." He half joked, sending the men into agreeing, uproarious laughter.

* * *

When Johnny entered the room, he smiled heartbrokenly at the sight of his wife sitting on the floor in front of her closet. She had a big duffle bag open beside her and a pile of clothes in front of her, tossing them around carelessly. All of their dresser drawers were open with clothes spilling out of them. He was almost worried about her.

"Babe?" He called out to her.

She hesitated before answering. "I can't find anything to wear." She moved her arms up and down in defeat. "I don't think I can fit any of this stuff anymore."

He frowned, lightly shaking his head as he moved closer to her. "Babe, you have more than enough cash to buy anything you want to wear." He'd made sure of it, he'd left them with tons of thousands, just so they wouldn't use any credit cards and so that they would be virtually untraceable.

"Yeah, but I can't find that gray sweater you bought for me the first Christmas we spent together." She finally stood up, pushing small pieces of hair that had fallen from her messy bun out of her face. "Remember?" She ran to the bed, the black, oversize sweater she wore fell off of her shoulder and halfway down her arm. She moved her attention to the bed, which was full of clothing, too.

"Yeah," he crossed his arms over his chest with a little chuckle. "You mean the one you barely ever wear?"

She pressed her fingers to her forehead when she gave up on searching on the bed, "I wear it around holidays." She challenged. "And since we're not going to be together during the holidays this year…" Her eyes swept around the room frantically, avoiding looking his way.

He smirked though it didn't really reach his eyes, letting his back rest against the wall. "I promise I'll have you guys home before Christmas." He spoke softly, mostly sadly.

Hearing the hurt in his voice froze her, her back to him and she covered her mouth, trying to contain a sob that was struggling to break loose. She clenched her eyes shut, praying that he couldn't see her until she had herself under control. "I still need it." Her voice shook against her wishes as she moved to a different part of the room in search of the sweater.

The thing was, he knew she wanted to cry the moment he'd stepped into their bedroom doorway. He felt a pain starting to throb in his throat. He wanted this goodbye to be easy and full of hope, but all the both of them were feeling was dread, like this was the end of something great. He had never been away from her for longer than two days. He already missed her and she was still right there in front of him for him to touch.

Pushing away from the wall, he spotted the sweater on the pile on the bed and grabbed it, watching her throwing clothes around as she searched. Her body would randomly shake with agony as she tried to hide her crying from him. He walked over to the dresser, where she stood blindly throwing things and grabbed her waist with one hand.

"Shhh." He whispered in her ear, resting his chin on her shoulder after kissing the bare skin. "It's right here." He whispered. "I found it."

Her movements came to a screeching halt when his other arm wrapped around her and held it in front of her. She'd been looking for it for the better part of an hour and he'd found it in a few seconds. Her eyes filled with tears instantly. That consistent calming thing that he did-like he had done now-was going to be out of her life indefinitely. Her shoulders shook to a slump as she brought her hands up to cover her face, sobbing mercilessly.

Dropping the sweater, he spun her around to him, grabbing her face on either side with his large hands and ducking down to try and peer into her saddened brown eyes. "I don't know what you're crying for." He tried to lighten the mood a little. "You're gonna be right back here in no time. Three weeks, tops. And if not, I'm coming to you." When she finally moved her hands, he took the opportunity to wipe her tears with his thumbs.

"I don't know what's wrong with me. I'm not a crier." She tried to explain, finally looking up into his eyes.

He scoffed. "What are you talking about? You're the biggest crybaby in the world." He laughed softly, tears filling his own eyes. "You cry over everything. But that's one of the reasons I love you, you know that? You'll cry watching the Lion King with Danny but you're the toughest person I know."

She bit back a smile and rolled her red-rimmed eyes. "Everyone cries watching the Lion King." She sniffled and they both smiled briefly at each other.

He breathed out an airy laugh before bringing her face to his and kissing her lips quickly. "I don't." He told her before kissing her again and then a few more times, as if he couldn't get enough of her. "God," he breathed the word into her face, blowing tendrils from her forehead. "I am going to miss you guys like crazy." He pressed his lips together when his voice hitched and closed his eyes, resting his forehead against hers.

She grabbed onto his forearms, doing the same thing with her lips and eyes as him. "Promise we'll talk everyday. And that you'll be careful and you won't be distracted and you'll do what you have to do so that we can come home."

"I promise you, Samantha Zacchara." He told her desperately, opening his eyes at the exact time she did to solidify his words. "I promise you that I will do everything I can so that we can be together again. Besides, I have to marry you again since the last time didn't really happen." They both laughed a little painfully. "I love you." He lost his battle to the ache inside as two tears slid down his cheeks. "I love you." He swore to her, kissing her tear covered lips with his very own.

"I love you." She cried, finally wrapping her arms around his neck. Probably too tightly, but he didn't mind. She cried into his shoulder, letting out all of the sadness that she couldn't store inside of her.

Sam felt almost empty as she watched him strap Danny into the car seat. She knew he wanted to cry, but not in front of him, so she watched blankly as he lingeringly placed a kiss on Danny's forehead, they shared 'I love you's' and then he shut the car door and turned to her, digging into his pocket and pulling out a phone quite similar to the one she had before the accident. "Can you at least put on that sweater that you destroyed the entire house to find?" He asked pleadingly.

She shook her head slowly. "I'm not cold." She forced herself to say, grabbing the phone from his hand.

He wasn't going to argue with her. "Okay. Alright." Jason came to stand next to her at that moment and Johnny sighed at the sight of them side by side. He wanted to find a different way to protect them, but he knew this was the safest. "That's a prepaid phone." He felt around in his pockets until he found another one and handed it to Jason. "And here's one for you. All the numbers that you guys need are stored in there. I have a phone that's prepaid, so do Dezi, Aldo, Max and Milo. All of those numbers are in your phones." He explained thoroughly. "As soon as you get to Seattle with Spinelli, I've instructed him to get you two fake identities so that you can take her to her doctor's appointment. I've already sent him everything that General Hospital has on file, we're just going to change the names so that it can't be traced back to you." His eyes lingered on her and he grabbed her hand, he wanted to comfort her. "If any complications should happen before you make it to Washington or while you are in Washington, just get her to the nearest hospital and call me, I'll be on my way."

"Are you just going to be able to leave everything?" Jason questioned, worried about any foil in their plans.

"Yes." He answered quickly, looking directly into his kinda-wife's eyes. "I am."

Jason nodded approvingly. "Okay."

"Now in the back," he walked to the trunk, his hand still attached to Sam's, "I hid a bunch of money." He popped the trunk and released his hand from Sam's to move their bags over and pop open the hidden compartment in the floor of the trunk in the SUV, revealing stacks and stacks of cash. "No using any kind of credit cards so this is about three hundred and fifty thousand. More than enough for you guys." He replaced the conspicuous floorboard and closed the trunk, grabbing her hand again. He sighed as he leaned against the trunk, slightly pulling her towards him and looked at her. "Anymore questions?" He said lowly.

Jason shook his head, sensing the two wanted to be left alone. "I'll be in the car." Fighting the jealousy within him, he walked away.

"Aldo put together a small bag for you. It has all of your prenatal pills and medication, some of you and Danny's favorite little snacks, multiple phone chargers, _water_," he emphasized. "Please stay away from coffee and soda and all of that bad stuff you like." He shook her playfully, trying to get at least a little bit of life out of her. "And that sweater that you tried so hard to find." He said that part quietly and things got serious.

She forced a small smile. "Thank you."

Johnny grabbed her other hand and pulled her to him. "I'll call you as soon as I'm done working today." He told her, his arms circling around her waist.

"Okay." She nodded one solemn nod. She searched his brown eyes for a moment before sighing. "I love you."

"Love you, too." He kissed her deeply, hoping that the kiss could last him a few days before he started having withdrawals-which he knew he would. He needed her next to him at night. When they finally broke away from the kiss, he inhaled sharply and then swallowed hard, looking at the cut on her face. It was a reminder of why he was doing this. "Please, be safe."

"You too." She whispered back, her hands both cupping the back of his neck. "Please, don't let anything happen to you."

Nodding, he looked down at her belly, his unborn. "Be careful. If you feel any discomfort, any pain, _anything_. Go to the nearest hospital and call me, please." He begged.

"Okay. I promise." She kissed the tip of his nose. "I promise."

He stood up straight, grabbing a hold of her hands as he led her to the passenger seat door. This was harder than he had imagined. For now, their well being was out of his hands. He wasn't comfortable with that feeling. Stopping at the door, he took in the sight of her one more time. Her messy bun propped on the top of her head, pieces of dark chocolate hair framing the silky white face with the puffy red eyes and the cut on her tear stained cheeks, the oversized black sweater, still hanging loosely from one shoulder. The old dark, blue jeans and knee high gray Uggs. He would never forget this Sam.

"Love you." He said one last time, pushing pieces of hair behind her ear.

"Love you." She mostly mouthed back as he reached around her and opened the door.

She seemed to have second thoughts before climbing inside and she jumped when he closed the door after her. He blew her a soft kiss before moving a couple of steps to the side and peeking in at Danny, who was waving happily, seemingly oblivious to the sadness around him.

"Bye Daddy!" He called.

Johnny waved and blew him more than a few kisses, Danny did so in return as Jason started the vehicle. Sam mindlessly connected her seat belt, staring ahead of her like she was looking into the unknown, unaware of the concerned blue eyes boring into the side of her.

"Love you Daddy!" Danny was yelling.

"I love you." Johnny said as the car backed up, turned around and drove away from him. Sticking his hands into his long coat pockets, he took a very deep breath and watched the car disappear down the road.


	6. Chapter 5

**First, let me just say thank you all sooooo much for the reviews, I am overwhelmed! I'm so happy that people enjoy it and that people leave me encouraging reviews as well as reviews expressing how much you like this! Thank you everyone, even the "bad" reviews, I am grateful.**

**So here we go again, chapter five! It's kind of short but I hope you enjoy it!**

* * *

Chapter 5

He'd watched a Sam similar to the one he was sitting next to a long time ago. Heartbroken and quietly crying when she thought no one was looking to conceal the hurt that Sonny had caused her. That was the last time he saw her this distraught. The way she used to sob, a part of him used to think that she would never recover. The other part of him wanted to heal her in a way that he wasn't sure he was capable of. And the latter part of him had done just that...but right now, he didn't know what he wanted. Everything was out of order and he didn't know if he even knew where to begin or if the pieces of her that needed to be put back together had anything to do with him.

He hurt. Which was the difference between the first time he watched her cry like this and now. He hurt much more than he had back then. He and Courtney were going through a painful split but nothing had yet to sting him as bad as losing Sam had. Right now, his hurt was so unimaginable, he had to concentrate just to function normally. Maybe, if he would have had time to prepare himself for what he came home too, he wouldn't have been aching to the extent that he was, but he was hurt and she was broken and those two things usually had a hard time mending themselves, let alone each other.

Hearing her quiet sniffles as she curled up against the door by her seat was killing him inside. All he could do was glance over at her and watch as she used her sleeves to cover her face so she could cry alone. Briefly, he wondered if this was how she cried during all of their hard times. Did she cry like this when he mistakenly thought he was doing her justice by letting her go because he was convinced that his lifestyle was too dangerous? Or when he walked away from her and Danny and never came home? He wondered if she cried like this when she found out that Elizabeth was pregnant with his first child or when he used to lie to her face about it? Did she cry this way when he threatened her or when he lost his memory and didn't remember her?

If that was how she cried for him, a part of him was almost glad he didn't get to see it. Just watching her now was murdering him slowly. If this was what it looked like when Sam was hurt, he never wanted to see it again.

He swallowed hard and glanced in the rearview mirror at Danny who was sleeping comfortably in his seat. He hadn't been blind to the fact that she only cried when Danny fell asleep. In fact, she only looked as broken as she did right now when Danny wasn't paying attention. Earlier, when they had stopped to eat at a little off-road diner, she looked happy and enthusiastic for him. But when he wasn't looking or his attention was captured by something else, Jason would notice that same look of despair wash over her face as she glanced out of the diner window. He hated the look of agony on her, but even then she was beautiful.

"Are you...okay?" He finally asked. He knew she wasn't.

She nodded quickly and wiped the tears from her face almost like she was surprised that he had noticed at all. "Yeah, I'm sorry, I'm just…" She sighed shakily. "I just, um…" She couldn't bring herself to talk about her relationship with Johnny to Jason. That would probably never be an easy thing to do. "I'm just emotional. Hormones." She forced herself to smile. "I just need to get some sleep."

"Do you want to stop at the next motel?" He was more than willing to quit driving for the day if that's what she needed.

"Um," she glanced at the radio clock, "We can at about midnight." She was waiting for Johnny's call. It was almost eleven o'clock and he hadn't called her yet. She didn't want to lay down and chance missing his call. Falling asleep in this car was a lot harder than falling asleep in a comfortable motel bed.

"Alright." He agreed and kept his eyes on the road, trying to ignore that hurt dancing inside of him, but more of it came rushing in when they sat in silence again. There was a time when they couldn't stop talking to each other. When all she would do is tell him stories and laugh as she talked, slurring her words with her contagious smile and it would just fill him with so much happiness.

She glanced at him. "I feel bad." She sounded stuffy.

"Why?" He asked quickly, grateful for any kind of conversation.

"Because, you just got home and here you are taking care of me again." She huffed a little. "You didn't even get to see everyone. I mean, I made a few calls. Monica, Carly…"

"I saw Carly." He told her before she could continue. "She came by my house."

Sam nodded, not surprised that he had a place already. Knowing Jason, it was probably an exact replica of his old one. "That's good. Did the two of you get to catch up?"

He thought about his answer for a moment. "You could say that."

"Uh oh." Sam knew the hesitance in his voice. "Did you guys argue about Franco?"

"We argued about a lot of things." He clarified vaguely. "That's what makes Carly and I, Carly and I. We argue, we fight, but we have an understanding."

Sam smiled softly. "I know." Clearing her throat, she sighed again and glanced out of the window at the empty, post-snow road. "Did you get to see Monica?"

"Not yet. I'll see her when I get back." He did regret not going to see her sooner.

Sam nodded and shifted in her seat to get more comfortable. "These past few days," she started, putting a palm over her forehead as she sucked in a breath, "have been crazy."

Jason didn't know how to concur with words. "You just need to relax. You can't get too overwhelmed."

"I know, that's what I'm trying to do." She rubbed her sleepy eyes. She couldn't wait to be in a warm bed, snuggled next to her son for the night but right now she wanted to wait for Johnny's call.

Jason's fingers drummed against the steering wheel as they fell into another silence. "So what country did Sonny move to?"

Sam looked thoughtful for a second. "I believe they moved to Costa Rica. He only told his kids where he lives but Kristina told me."

Jason nodded in understanding. "Ah, I see." He cleared his throat hesitantly. "And, uh, Ric came back?"

"Yeah, it was short lived but he did." She answered with a kind smile. "It seems like he just came back, swooped right in to get Elizabeth and then they took off together into the sunset." Sam glanced over at his emotionless face. "But she was happy. We never really got over our little...thing," she told him awkwardly, "but she was happy when she left."

"That's good." He said, sincerely pleased that she had found happiness somewhere. "And what uh, college did Kristina go off to?"

"Harvard, what else?" Sam let out an airy laugh. "Do you honestly think _our_ mother would have accepted anything less?"

He smiled, memories of the Davis girls flooding him. He loved seeing Sam have family, after all, when he met her, he remembered that that was ultimately what she wanted out of life. "How are the Davis girls?" A part of his mouth lifted in a little smirk.

"As crazy as ever," she replied with a sad smile at the thought of them and how she wouldn't get to be with them this Thanksgiving. "Molly is really good. My mom...is dating again." She grumbled the last part.

Jason noted the displeasure in her voice. "I take it you don't like whoever she's dating."

Her mouth opened and closed a few times before she finally spoke, whipping her head around to look directly at him with slightly narrowed eyes. "She's dating Julian Jerome."

Jason visibly processed the name. "Another mobster?" He remembered hearing about Julian a lot in the business, though they never really did any serious business with the Jerome organization.

Sam pushed strands of hair out of her face as she looked down at her lap. "Actually, this isn't the first time that he and my mother have…" She moved her hands over her lap as if her legs were a mystical cauldron. "Dated."

He frowned as he didn't understand. "What do you mean?"

Sam scratched her head and then sighed, letting out a small chuckle. "Julian Jerome...is my biological father."

His face fell blank as he looked between her and the road several times. "You're serious?"

"Very." She shook her head before plopping it back against the headrest. "But I hate him."

"Why?" He sounded genuinely concerned.

"He got Morgan mixed up in a lot of crap when he was here. He took advantage of him, got him mixed up in a lot of mob business," she sighed, remembering the horrible times, "just so that he could bring Sonny down...and Sonny was already going off the deep end from losing you, so Julian had the upper hand."

Jason moved his hand impatiently for her to continue. "Well how did Sonny get Morgan out of it?"

Sam looked down at her hands in her lap uncomfortably. "He didn't, actually. It was um," she cleared her throat lightly, "it was Johnny."

"Johnny." He repeated evenly.

"Yeah." She nodded with a forced smile. "Johnny. After Morgan accidentally shot Max, Sonny was about to lose it and he couldn't get through to Morgan. That's when Johnny came in. He shut down half of the Jerome organization, no one even knew how, but Julian decided to cut a deal with him. Johnny asked for him to fire Morgan and when he did, Johnny and Sonny somehow got Morgan to agree to go away to college and start over."

Jason hated that he hadn't been there to help. "And Morgan's fine?"

"He's better than fine. He's doing great. I think he's majoring in psychology, he's getting really good grades." She informed with a bright smile. "During the time that he was mixed up with Julian, he and Michael had gotten a little rocky, they weren't really getting along but now that he's in college they've built a bridge over their troubled waters and everything is flowing smoothly." Her hands clapped in finality and she cheesed as best she could with all the heavy sadness weighing her down.

Jason smiled at her. "You talk about them with passion." He said softly. "I'm happy, that they had you around while I wasn't."

"I love them. I love them so much, they're like my family." She assured him. "But I guess part of me felt like I had to love them more because you weren't here." She confessed quietly, meeting his eyes for a brief second.

"Thank you."

She shook her head before he even got the words out, putting her hand up. "Jason, no, no, please, don't thank me. I love those kids." Her shoulder came up in a soft, thoughtful shrug. "Well, they're not _kids _anymore, but we watched them grow, you know? We were a part of that. Of who they are." She explained passionately.

He smiled at her enthusiasm, excited that she was almost talking to him like she used to. "We were." He agreed, trying to encourage her to keep talking.

She sighed and seemed to slump back into her original sadness, her gaze floating out of the window at the cold darkness. "It's insane, isn't it?" She mainly said to herself.

"What?" He answered gently.

"How you just...become a part of someone." She seemed to be drifting off into her own thoughts before the realization that he was watching her seemed to surprise her. Her eyes welled but she blinked back the tears quickly and cleared her throat, smiling fleetingly as she looked at him quickly. "It's just crazy, isn't it?"

Jason swallowed back a huge lump in his throat and got the sinking feeling that she wasn't referring to him, or if she was, it wasn't in the way that he wanted her to. But he just nodded instead, "Yeah, it is." Now, he welcomed the silence.

* * *

Johnny finally plopped down at his desk for the first time that day. He was frustrated, angry and missing his wife and Danny like he couldn't believe. Just knowing that they wouldn't be there when he got home bothered him. He kept trying to imagine going home to look into Danny's room and not see him there before he went into the room he shared with his "wife" and dropped down onto a bed without the smell of her overloading his senses. He could not imagine a moment as sad as that one.

He pulled open one of his drawers, reaching to the back of it to pull out the prepaid phone that he would use to call her. He almost dropped it out of his hands, being so eager to hear her comforting voice in his ears. As soon as he entered his code to unlock it, a knock sounded at his office door. His eyes slipped closed and he had to sigh to try and release the agitation inside of him.

"Come in." He called, tossing the phone back into the drawer and pushing it closed, raking an angry hand through his already tousled hair.

Max walked in, his hands politely crossed near the lower part of his tummy. "Mister Radomir Kovalev is here to see you."

His demeanor changed instantly from forlorn and irritated to fired up and ready for action. Johnny opened another drawer on the opposite side and pulled out a gun, checking to see if it was loaded, standing to his feet and tucking it behind his back, in the hem of his pants. He slid the drawer closed quietly and nodded his head. "Send him in." He said, walking over to the corner of his office to pour himself a drink. This was unexpected, it was late and this wasn't like any of the people he did business with to stop by at such hours.

A few moments later, a tall, slender man with blonde, neatly slicked back hair came into the room. He smelled like strong aftershave and the aroma filled the spacey office immediately. It was a harsh, musky smell and inwardly Johnny grimaced. The man took it upon himself to close the door behind himself and Johnny's brow cocked questioningly.

"Mister Zacchara." His Russian accent wasn't thick but it was definitely noticeable.

"Kovalev." Johnny mumbled in greeting. "What brings you by?" He asked quickly, putting the cup to his lips.

"Just stopping by to see what you're up to." Kovalev answered slyly. "After all, you are one of my business associates, are you not?"

Johnny's eyelids lowered to slits. "Cut the bullshit. Tell me why you're here."

The smug little smile on Kovalev's face crumbled quickly, leaving his lips in a thin line. "I found a few of your men questioning a few of my men." He informed, crossing his arms. "I want to know why."

Johnny's brows rose as she shrugged one shoulder carefully. "It was probably just some standard business stuff."

"Why wouldn't they question me?" His eyes narrowed.

Johnny stared for a drawn out, silent while before answering. "Because obviously, that's not what I ordered them to do."

Surprised by Johnny's blunt remark, Kovalev's eyes opened wide. "Why would you order them to question my men? That is certainly not professional."

Johnny stared motionlessly at his visitor for a few seconds. "Why are you here, Kovalev? To ask me a billion fucken questions? Why not just call?" His hand waved to the business phone on his desk.

He chuckled humorlessly and took a few steps closer to Johnny's desk, seemingly admiring some of the items there, including the telephone. "Wouldn't that be...what you do American's like to call it? Informal?" His smirk was nasty and agitated.

Johnny drunk the rest of his cup quickly and slammed it down on the small table to the side of him, walking forward in an assertive swift. "I take precaution and I have my men ask questions. You can accept that and leave or stop doing business with me all together."

"I may choose the latter." Kovalev growled threateningly.

Johnny shrugged easily. "You have no idea how much I don't fucking care." He was irritated and no one spoke right away after that.

"I don't know what you're up to just yet, Zacchara," the Russian man started after a small silence, "but keep your nose where it belongs. I have never been disloyal to you or anyone in your organization. Don't do so to mine." He pointed a finger at him as his eyes narrowed to dangerous, threatening slits.

Johnny's eyes matched the ones he stood in front of and he stepped even closer, almost touching him. "Oh, you better hope you haven't been disloyal, Kovalev. Because if you have, if you even thought about it, I promise you will regret the day your parents conceived you." His voice was low and raspy, a lethal little whisper that said a million things.

Kovalev kept a solid facade, besides the fact that when he swallowed it was the only sound in the room. "Have a good night, Zacchara."

Johnny nodded one time and watched carefully as Kovalev opened the door. Max stood perfectly on the other side, his gun down to his side as he made eye contact with the man and prepared to escort him out of Johnny's building. Johnny and Max made quick, understanding eye contact and nodded slightly at each other before Max waved a hand to Kovalev, showing him the way out. When the door closed, Johnny waited a few seconds before sighing and plopping down on his seat again, raking his eyes across his desk.

There were no pictures of his family like their were in cliche movies and shows. He had too many visitors in his office, he didn't need anyone memorizing them and then getting any stupid ideas just because he had pictures in his office. He had enough pictures of them in his phone. That's why he knew whoever attacked Sam had to be working for someone who knew her through a personal connection. But to be fair, Sam was no stranger to the mob life, so that didn't necessarily have to be true. She'd been involved with one of the biggest names in the business before him. And he was sure that when they got married, word spread about who he was marrying. He didn't release any photographs of their wedding, no matter how much the newspapers and local magazine editors asked, but they did take photos and he knew that they could have gotten out. Basically, there was no way of hiding his family from the eye of the public, but it didn't hurt anything to try.

He brushed a hand through his crazy hair, reminding himself of his wife with the motion. She'd always notice his hair after a long day of work. It would be all over the place and unruly and she would bite her lip when she saw him, she thought it was sexy.

He pulled the drawer open and grabbed the phone eagerly. He needed to hear the only people that really mattered to him. This time, he was able to tap his finger on her name in the prepaid phone before his other phone started vibrating wildly on the side of his desk. He was going to ignore it until he saw Patrick's name and he knew he owed it to Sam to give the poor guy an explanation. She'd left without so much as a goodbye because Johnny had basically rushed her out of the door.

With an irritated roll of his eyes, he reached forward and grabbed the phone, tapping on the green phone symbol and putting it to his ear. "H'lo." He answered tiredly.

"Johnny," Patrick sighed heavily as relief flooded him, "God, what the hell is going on? Where's Sam? I thought she got released from the hospital a few days ago. I've been calling her-"

"Look, can you come to my office?" Johnny interrupted him. "I don't want to get into anything over the phone."

Patrick gave a little nervous laugh. "I'm kind of...already parked outside."

"What? Why?" Johnny asked, confused.

"Well if you didn't answer I was going to come up and ask for an explanation. I've already been to your house." He was genuinely worried. It had to be the longest he'd gone without talking to her.

Johnny let out a soft sigh. "Alright. Come up."

"Already on my way." Patrick said before clicking off the line.

Johnny looked down at her name on the phone before tapping the power button so that the screen went off and tossing it back in his drawer a second time. Maybe all these interruptions were fate's way of trying to tell him something. Something he didn't want to hear.

* * *

Sam cupped some of the hot, cascading water and tossed it over her tired face. This motel shower was a godsend and probably the best thing in the place. Not to say she wasn't grateful to be sleeping in a warm bed that wasn't half bad. The blankets smelled fresh and the TV was only missing one button, and it was the menu button so they weren't really losing out on much.

Danny was completely knocked out and she decided that she would bathe him in the morning before they headed out. They were making really good timing. They were halfway through Indiana right now and had been driving about twelve or thirteen hours. Thanksgiving was only a few days away and she wanted to be with Spinelli and Ellie by then so that they could have somewhat of a formal holiday dinner.

She turned the shower off, knowing that she better save some hot water for Jason. He probably wanted to take a shower and relax for a while, too. He'd done all of the driving and they decided that she was going to drive in the morning. Grabbing a towel from the rack across from the tub, she dried off quickly and slipped into her pajama sweat pants and a tank top. She was still damp and her hair was dripping, but she decided to dry it while she was in bed so that he could hurry and hop in.

But when she opened the door, she saw him strewn across one of the two large beds in the room, completely asleep. She hadn't expected that from him. He was usually the last one to fall asleep and that was if he even slept. He rarely did. But that was when he had tons of things to worry about and people waiting for him to slip up.

Squeezing her hair with the towel, she lightly walked over to watch her son sleeping on the bed. He was going through so much and he didn't even know it. Part of her felt guilty for giving him this life, but she knew that she couldn't have surrounded him with people who would love him more than the family he had did.

When her hair was dry enough to her liking, she tossed the towel onto a chair and rolled her hair up in a high bun, wrapping a rubber band from around her wrist to secure it. Then she looked at the phone on the nightstand between the beds, disappointed with what she saw. No missed calls. No texts. She was beginning to worry about Johnny. She knew that he missed them, it wasn't like him to not have called yet during a time like this. Something must have really been going on.

Deciding to text him herself, she went through the phone, clicking on his name and preparing to leave him a long, drawn out message about how she was worried and was going to be pissed if he'd simply forgotten her. But instead, she sighed and texted him.

**We miss you. We love you. Be safe.**

The words stung her when she pressed send and tears clouded her eyes as she sat the phone back on the stand. Shaking her head, she refused to cry anymore. She had cried enough so much she was surprised that she still had tears left to shed. The ride had been awkward and she felt guilty and miserable all at one time. Miserable because she wasn't with Johnny anymore and guilty because Jason had to listen to her sob over someone else when he was clearly still in love with her. She had been trying to block it out, as bad as that was. She didn't want to deal with how he felt about her, not yet. It was too complicated. She didn't know how to handle how he felt about her or how she felt about him. But it made her feel worse watching him wishing he could save her from her pain.

She looked over at the man in her thoughts at that moment. The bed across from her seemed so far away, which related perfectly to the way she felt about their situation. As strong as her love once was for him, he felt like a stranger to her and she would probably never forgive herself for feeling so detached. All she knew was that when she was sure she was going to die from sadness, Johnny had been there and had made her feel so incredibly whole, that she wasn't sure she could live her life any other way than with him. And that gave her a gut wrenching ache inside, to know that one day she would have to explain that to Jason. That she would have to tear his heart out in a way she had promised not to.

Carefully, she fluffed her pillow and softly laid her head on it, her thoughts drifting back to Johnny. Hoping that somehow he would just knock on the door and hug her and explain that he had been so busy driving to catch up with them that he didn't have time to call her. She knew it was wishful thinking, but everything was happening too quickly for her. She had barely had enough to prepare for this rift in their relationship. She had also spent majority of the day wondering how Danny was taking all the change. He seemed happy though...in fact, the boy seemed totally ecstatic to be on a road trip with his new "friend" Jason. And guilt flooded her again. Jason wasn't just a friend, he was his father and since he was alive, it was time that Danny knew that.

Sam turned her head to look over at him and smiled at how peaceful he looked. He looked amazingly calm and at ease and she was grateful that he wasn't privy to all the turmoil around them. She ran a hand over his head and leaned forward, kissing his forehead quickly. With one last touch of his baby soft skin, she turned, flicked the light off and then tucked her hands underneath her pillow to go to sleep when she heard a grunt coming from the other bed. She lifted her head slightly, peeking at Jason and noticed a twitch of his leg when she did. Watching him for a little while longer, he didn't move or make any other sound, so she put her head back down on the pillow and sighed.

That's when she heard him mumble something unintelligible and her head shot up again. He was wiggling, as if he was restrained to the bed and his head was lashing back and forth. "Don't touch me..." He kept repeating, more helpless than she'd ever heard him.

Scared out of her mind, Sam hopped out of bed and leapt onto his, crawling almost on top of him, her hands moved all over him, trying to still his thrashing as he struggled against his nightmare. "Jason…" She was desperate to wake him as she reached for his face slowly, her face drowning in worry.

"Let me go...let me go..." He growled before his arms broke free from whatever invisible thing had been holding them down. He gripped her ruthlessly by her shoulders, flipping her and then slamming her down onto the bed, hovering over her as he panted, his face only a breath or two away from hers.

Sam was frozen beneath him as his blue eyes bore into her callously. A small part of her feared for her life, he didn't seem to recognize her and was still pinning her body down into the mattress as he half-straddled her. But a few seconds after, his fingers loosened on her arms and his eyes softened before falling sadly down the length of her scared face.

"Sam…" He said brokenly, on the verge of tears. "Sam, I…" With wide, shocked eyes, he brought a hand to her face and barely touched it before pulling it away.

"No, Jason, it's okay." She was relieved that he wasn't having that horrible nightmare anymore-and that Danny hadn't woken up to see the exchange. "It's okay," she moved her head, struggling to keep his eyes level with hers, "I'm fine."

He closed his eyes and dropped his forehead on her chest, attempting to hide his vulnerability from her. "I'm so sorry."

"Jason, shhhh." Hesitantly, she brought an arm up and ran her hand through his hair as she rubbed his head, trying desperately to calm him down. "I'm okay, I promise." She cooed softly. "Its okay."

"I didn't mean to-"

"Jason, I know." Her voice shook at how helpless his voice sounded.

"I-I didn't mean to hurt you." He finally looked up and into her chocolate eyes.

"I know." She grabbed either side of his face as her eyes watered. She'd never seen this vulnerable side of him. He seemed lost. Her eyes searched his for some clarity. "How long...how long have you been going through this?" Her voice broke at the end.

She felt him swallow hard with half of his body against hers. The proximity was familiar but disturbing at the same time and gave them both an underlying uncomfortable feeling that was only ignored because of the severity of the situation. His eyes concentrated on hers and rimmed with tears. All he ever remembered was looking into these eyes and finding solace and telling truths he never had. This moment was no different. He lazily attempted a shrug and his lips moved before words actually came out. "Since the day I left the island. I've been trying not to sleep."

"Jason," she said his name tearfully as he finally sat up, moving out of her comforting embrace. "You haven't told anyone." She could tell when he started avoiding her eyes.

He ran his hands over his tired face. "Who am I supposed to tell, Sam?"

"Preferably a doctor." She suggested, sitting up herself. "I'm sure Robin could've helped." She cleared her throat a little. "Jason, you can talk to me, too."

"What am I supposed to say? I don't know what this is." He sounded frustrated as he stood up.

"You obviously went through a very traumatic experience. I mean, you never told me exactly what happened. You just told me the basics." She looked up at him from her spot on the bed. "But I know you hate talking about those things, I just wish that you would."

She was right, he did hate talking about these things. "It's nothing."

"Then why were you telling them to let you go? Not to touch you?" She stood up and walked over to the window where he was, standing behind him. "That's not nothing, Jason." She crossed her arms over her chest to fight the urge to wrap them around him. Everything in her was telling her to comfort him and take care of him, she knew he would have if the tables were turned. "Whatever happened is obviously haunting you."

He put the balls of his hands to his forehead and closed his eyes. "Just leave it alone, Sam. I'm fine."

She wasn't going to pressure him. "Alright." She put her hands up in surrender. "Okay." She stared at his back for a moment before backing away and slowly walking to her bed.

"But I promise," he started softly, as she peeled the blanket back. He turned his head slightly over his shoulder to look at her as he put his arms down at his sides, "I promise you'll be the first person I come to if there ever is anything wrong."

Instead of climbing back into bed and forgetting that this ever happened, Sam walked back over to him. "Don't lie to me. There is something wrong and you're not telling me, Jason. If that's the promise that you're making me then you need to start telling me what's wrong right now."

He turned around to face her and was clearly holding back tears. His eyes looked over at Danny sleeping on the bed and a single tear ran down his cheek. "I just...I wanted to come home."

Sam couldn't help but feel guilty. "I'm sorry that I sold the penthouse, Jason, I just...the memories…were..."

"That's not what I mean." He stopped her. "Home was only the penthouse because that's where you were." He wiped the tear from his cheek quickly. "You were my home."

She didn't know how to reply to that, so she opened her arms. "Come here." She demanded, but met him halfway in a comforting hug. He gripped her tightly and she could feel the longing in him dissipating. Her hand ran soothingly up and down her back and she felt him melting in her arms. "Jason, you are never going back there." She promised. "You're free now."

"I know." He opened his eyes to make sure that he was. And he realized this was the best he'd felt since he'd been back. Watching his son sleep while in the arms of the woman he loved. He didn't even know the name of this motel, but this is what home felt like to him.

Meanwhile on the nightstand, Sam's fourth missed call stopped vibrating her phone.

* * *

Sam's eyes slowly cracked open as the light of the beginning of the morning came bustling in from the window next to her. It felt too brightin her face. She used her arm to try to shield it as she found a more comfortable position but realized that there was no room on the bed for a more comfortable position. Danny was snuggled up right next to her and next to him, was Jason. Glancing around, she realized that she must have fallen asleep on Jason's bed and Danny came to join her in the middle of the night.

Danny was still sound asleep, his teddy bear snuggled close to his chest and she smiled, kissing him on the forehead. As awkward as this should have been, it wasn't. Waking up next to Jason wasn't new...it hadn't been done in a while-and Danny hadn't been in the middle of them-but it wasn't new. Finally reaching over, she was able to snatch the curtain over, covering the peeking light from entering the room before she laid back down with a sigh.

Suddenly, her mind jumped to who she should have been waking up next to and she felt around for her phone before hopping as quietly out of bed as she could, snatching it from the nightstand, she pressed the button to illuminate her phone and her eyes nearly bulged out of her head at the seven missed calls from Johnny.

There was one text and she read it to herself.

**Hope you sleep well. I love you. Kiss Danny for me.**

She knew he was probably deep in sleep right now, but she needed to hear his voice. After checking that Danny was asleep still, she snuck outside and closed the door quietly behind her as her hand holding the phone worked to call him back. It rang two and a half times before he picked up on the other side.

"Sweetheart." His voice was raspy and sleepy, but he sounded grateful to hear her.

She sighed in some form of relief. "Johnny."

He sniffed and then let out a breath. "Hey, how are you? I'm so sorry about yesterday, Sam. I was gonna call you earlier but-"

"You did call." She reminded.

"Yeah, but it was so fucken late." He stifled a yawn. "Where are you guys?"

"Some motel in Indiana." She said looking out over the view in front of her. The sky was pinched with a hint of pink and orange. The top of the sun could be seen peeking over the mountains in the distance. She lived for these kinds of moments. Rare and such a sight to see.

"Why are you up so early?" He questioned and then glanced at the watch around his wrist. "Or...what time is it there?"

Sam tried to hold back a laugh. "It's the same time, genius."

"I...knew that." He lied with a small laugh.

She laughed a little in return. "I don't know, I couldn't really sleep. I hadn't heard from you all night, I was worried."

"Don't worry about me." He told her sternly but sweetly. "I'll be fine."

"You better." She mumbled and then sighed peacefully, glancing at her wonderful surroundings again. "The sun just came up. I wish you could see it. It's so beautiful here." Her voice softened, as if to appreciate the view.

"I bet it is." He whispered, seemingly not referring to the sunset.

Sam smiled and even blushed a little, but her eyes welled at the same time. "I don't think I've ever cried so much in one day as I did yesterday…" She told him shakily, with a self-appointed laugh.

"Ah, don't tell me that, please." He talked over her.

"Why not? It's true!"

"Because I'm not there, I can't do anything about it." He struggled to sound playful but the sadness in his voice couldn't be deterred. "I miss you like crazy." He said after a few quiet seconds.

"I do, too. Everything happened so fast. I feel like I just left without saying goodbye."

"Good. I don't want you saying goodbye, anyway." He muttered to her, a half smirk playing at his lips. Just hearing her was making him feel better. "Patrick stopped by. He was losing his mind looking for you."

"Oh my god." She knew he probably went crazy when he didn't hear from her. "Is he okay? Did you fill him in on everything?"

"As much as I felt was safe." He calmed her down. "You know, the less he knows, the better."

"Yeah. My mom is probably going crazy, too." She hissed. "And Molly, Maxie…"

"I got all of that covered, my love. So, don't worry your gorgeous little head. Today, I'm making my rounds and going to all of your concerned friends and family in between my handling my important mob business. I know you'd die if they were all worried about you." He lightly teased.

She made a relieved sound. "Thank you. Thank you so much." If she was there she would have kissed him. "So, have you made any progress?"

"I think so." He told her easily. "Remember how I told you that I was looking into two organizations because I was sure one of them were helping the Cassadine's?" He was whispering, even though there was no one around.

"Uh huh." She nodded expectantly.

"Well last night, one of the bosses of those organizations paid me a visit...so I think I've finally narrowed it down."

She thought she would have felt more relieved to hear this news, but instead, she felt a chill of terror run down her spine. She knew he was a ruthless killer when he had to be and she knew how anxious he was to get this over with. "Johnny, please, just be careful."

"I will. I promise. Besides, do you think I'm gonna go get myself killed and leave you across the country with the ex love of your life?" He scoffed humorously. "I'm not finished with you yet, Mrs. Zacchara." He purred the words into the phone like a smooth seduction.

"Technically, that's not my name." She teased him.

"It will be as soon as you get back to me." He sighed as she laughed softly. The sound was like music to his ears. "Is Danny still sleeping?"

"Yeah. He had a lot of fun though. He wasn't nearly as cranky as I thought he would be driving around for that long." She had been surprised. Usually they had to stop every few hours if they were going somewhere far so that he wouldn't get restless, but he'd done pretty good job.

"That's good. He's not scared or anything, right?" He worried. That had been one of his biggest worries since they'd left. He didn't want Danny to think that something was wrong or that they were running from anyone. He seemed to be handling the accident fine.

"No, he thinks we're just taking a trip to see Spinelli. And I think Jason promised him DisneyWorld." Her eyes rolled but she had a small smile.

"Don't you think you guys should've done that first?" He questioned. "That's a little out of the way now, isn't it?"

"Well I don't want to spend my Thanksgiving at DisneyWorld." She told him with a slight pout. "If I can't be with you, I'd like to be with Spinelli and his family."

"That's right. Thanksgiving is in a couple of days. You know, I am going to miss that big hunk of burnt stuff you always make every year." He feigned a dreamy tone.

Sam laughed out loud and then covered her mouth to quiet the sound. "Oh, shut up!" She hissed in defense. "You eat it, don't you? Just admit it. You love it."

He didn't answer right away, reveling in the sound of her laugh. "Of course I do." He replied longingly. "Of course I do." He repeated almost inaudibly.

His voice took on that sound again, where he was serious and talking about something deeper than what they were. She swallowed back another wave of tears. "I love you."

"I love you." He said softly and then cleared his throat, obviously getting choked up as well. "Are you feeling okay? Baby Zacchara's fine?"

"Yes, _Baby Zacchara_ is fine. I feel good actually." She unconsciously put a hand to her belly and glanced down.

Someone knocked on the door of his office and he felt sad that his day was beginning and he couldn't talk to her all night. "Well, I have to go. But please take your vitamins, drink lots of water, when you kiss Danny, kiss him twice-once for me and take pictures, lots and lots of pictures and send them to me." He put his hand over the phone to yell, "Just a minute!" He dropped his hand and sighed sadly. "I love you."

Sam frowned as she realized he wasn't at home. "Johnny, did you sleep in your office?"

"Love you." He ignored her question.

"Love you, too." She said slowly before hanging up.

Johnny hopped up from the leather couch to the side of his office and for some reason tried to straighten out his suit. "Come in." He did sleep in his office because he couldn't muster up the courage to go to his empty home.

Dezi opened the door hastily, his eyes wide with worry. "Boss, you're gonna wanna come to the docks."

"Why? What's wrong?"

"You'll...you're gonna wanna see for yourself."

Johnny could tell from the look in his eyes that it wasn't good. He grabbed his gun from the desk and snatched up his long coat, tossing it over his arm. "Let's go."

* * *

Sam was gripping onto the rail she stood in front of, trying to cope with her life before she walked back into her motel room when she heard the door open behind her. She whipped around and her eyes met the cobalt beauties of Jason's. Her smile was weak and uneven. "Hey."

"Hey." He answered, making sure the door didn't close all the way behind him. "You okay?"

"Yeah." She brought her arms up to hug herself. "Yeah, I'm fine. What about you? Are you…"

He nodded quickly. "Yeah, I'm fine. Too." He spoke awkwardly as he poked a hand into the pocket of his jeans. "Look, Sam, about last night-"

"You don't...you don't have to explain. I want to help you, Jason." She leaned against the railing.

"I want to apologize. For putting that on you. I should have warned you." He stepped closer.

"No, it's fine." She shook her head at him. They got silent and the both of them looked around, unsure of how to look at each other.

Jason's eyes found the sun rising in the distance and smiled softly at her. "You still do that, huh?"

She looked slightly confused. "What?"

"Sneak away to watch the sunset." He nodded his head towards the distance.

She turned around to get another look and was still taken aback by the beauty. "Sometimes." She chuckled softly. "It's one of those things that can calm me when nothing else can."

"I know, I remember." He stared at the back of her head, his hands itching to let her hair down. "We'd always end up watching the sunset together. I could never sleep when you weren't there."

Sam looked down and tightened her eyes. She didn't need this flashback of memories right now. She shook her head. "Jason, please...stop."

"What?" He questioned innocently.

"Stop bringing things up like that. I just-"

"Why?" Without intention, he defensively questioned her.

"Because I just...I can't…"

"You can't what? You can't remember?" He didn't know where this sudden wave of anger came from. "You can't remember that-"

"I can't deal with how it makes me feel!" She snapped, spinning around to face him, breathing heavily. "I can't deal with how remembering things like that makes me feel, okay Jason?!" Her expression was pained as she let her eyes fall over him. "You think I don't remember? You think every time I look at Danny I don't remember everything that we went through?!" She struggled to swallow before a sad sob left her mouth in an airy huff. "I remember everything, Jason." She whispered quietly. "Everything."

Jason wasn't expecting an answer like that one. It sucked the anger right from his body and he suddenly felt bad. He looked down at his boots and then around at their surroundings. Anywhere but her pain-stricken face. "We should go." Was all he found the courage to say. He felt like a coward or a bully.

"We should." When she agreed with a short nod and tried to walk past him, he grabbed her arms and her eyes slipped closed.

"Sam," he whispered her name dangerously close to her ear, "Sam, I'm sorry." He paused. "I just...I wish you could understand..."

"What? Understand what? Tell me." She pleaded but she never looked up at him, her eyes just concentrated on his chest.

He gritted his teeth and closed his eyes, dropping his head to brush his lips against her ear. "Nothing changed for me. While you were here, making this brand new life and moving on, nothing changed for me." Softly, he nuzzled the space between her neck and shoulder like it wasn't against his will. "I still love you the way I did the day I disappeared."

She had to find it somewhere in herself to pull away and finally look up into his eyes. Swallowing hard, she put some much needed distance between their bodies. "Then let me go. Let me go, Jason." Tears rolled down her cheeks as she pressed her lips together, bringing a hand up to cup his broken hearted face. "Just let me go." It was hard for her to talk and she moved her hand from his face, hesitantly walking around him and into the motel room.

Jason felt broken as he gazed out into the open. _Just let me go._ He would never forget those words, they were the hardest words he'd ever had to hear.


	7. Chapter 6

**Once again, thanks for the beautiful words. I can never get enough! I'm enjoying writing this story and I'm doing so chapter by chapter so bare with me. LoL Here is the next installment, I promise the next chapter will be more action packed, I just didn't want to rush things. But hopefully, you enjoy!**

**Also, I am not very familiar with Stavros or Helena. I watched a few videos and did some research on the Cassadine family tree, but I couldn't really get an in depth idea of who these characters really were. I remember Helena being extremely evil and Stavros, IDK, so if you are familiar with them and this seems kind of off, sorry...all I know about Stavros is that he was hot in his younger days LOL**

**Disclaimer...you know how it goes...**

* * *

**FreeBird**

Chapter 6

Johnny's head tilted with an emotionless expression as he eyed the dead body lying in front of him. Not even halfway from his office, lied the cold, hard body of Radomir Kovalev. He'd been shot once in the back of the head and left for the world to see. Police and coroners swarmed around him on the docks, looking for evidence and clues but his mind was turning with possibilities and ideas as he pieced everything together.

Last night, with Kovalev's visit, he was already sure that Kovalev wasn't the one with the Cassadine connection. No one who worked with anyone as dangerous as Stavros, Victor and Helena Cassadine would be stupid enough to make their connection that obvious. He grew up in this kind of business, so he knew that much. And whoever killed Kovalev knew that, too. Their had to be an ulterior motive for this senseless death and Kovalev had given whoever it was the perfect opportunity when he came knocking on Johnny's door.

"Did you know Mister Kovalev?" Her voice seemed to appear out of nowhere and her tone was dripping with accusation.

Johnny snorted slightly and shook his head with a dazzling smile that she couldn't even see. "Devane." He finally turned to her, exposing his smirk. "You know as well as I do that this is bullshit."

"It may be." She agreed easily. "But I have been informed that Mister Kovalev was coming from your office when he was brutally shot and killed."

"He was." His face turned serious. "And since Sonny took off, when have you ever suspected me of knocking anybody off?" When she couldn't answer, his wiggled his brows. "My point exactly." When he did kill someone, or have someone took out, no one ever knew. Probably Sam, but that was about it. He never left so much as a hint of a trace of that kind of thing. It was gruesome, but it was apart of the lifestyle.

She glanced around like she was looking for the point she'd missed. "What does that prove? That you've been taking the high road since Sonny left you the business?" She shrugged.

"Of course I haven't. It just proves that I've been extra fucken careful." He took a step towards her. "I've made it pretty clear that I have everything in the world to live for. I don't want to be in prison or dead, I just want to be with my family. So there's no fucken reason that I would kill someone and leave their dead body sitting on the goddamn docks!"

"Is that so? Because I am more than aware of the little accident that your wife and child had, which was never reported. That couldn't be a coincidence, could it?" She gave him a few seconds to answer but when he didn't she continued. "Did Kovalev knock your loved ones off the road so you took it upon yourself to get your revenge?" She asked, seemingly trying to provoke an answer from him.

Johnny's jaw stiffened at the thought. "If Kovalev hurt my wife or my son, you wouldn't find his body at all and if by a small chance you did, you would never find all the pieces."

She examined his response with her eyes for a few seconds before pursing her lips. "I'll need you to come down to the station to answer some questions. It's procedure."

"Don't waste my time, Anna." His chuckle lacked humor. "You have no idea what's about to go down." He warned quietly, making sure no one else was around to hear.

"Well, why don't you enlighten me, Johnny?" She asked, feigning hope. When he didn't reply, she smirked knowingly. "That's what I thought. Make sure you make it to the station sometime soon. Don't make me have to come get you."

His eyes squinted as he watched her walk away and then he looked around at the crowd. There was caution tape, a weak way of preventing the onlookers from getting as close as he was. He wondered how he'd gotten around it without being stopped but not very many people-including the police, said much to him. He wasn't known to be irrational and cause harm, but he was feared and even the cops steered clear when possible.

But in the crowd, near the very back, he saw a man that stood out for some reason. He was tall, towering easily over everyone in the crowd and he was staring directly at Johnny. Johnny narrowed his eyes at the guy, but the man didn't budge. In fact, if Johnny was just a little closer, he would have been certain that he saw a smirk.

"Boss, we-"

"Find out who that guy in the long coat is." Johnny ordered Dezi quickly, conspicuously pointing with his eyes.

Dezi spotted the suspect and went off to do his job. "Yessir."

Johnny watched as the man stuffed his hands in the pockets of his coat and backed away, before completely making a turn and leaving. Johnny didn't want to seem paranoid, but he was sure the guy had been watching him...and watching him for a reason. Rubbing at his stubbly chin, he glanced at his surroundings once more before walking away.

* * *

Danny was showing Jason how he colored some paper menu that he'd been given when they were seated as Sam looked down at her not-even-half eaten plate. The tension between her and Jason prevented them from even looking into each other's eyes and they had barely said three words to one another since the night before. So, it surprised her nonetheless when she heard him say her name from across the table.

"Sam." He repeated until she looked up at him. "You need to eat."

Her head shook, she was unsure. "I'm...I'm not hungry." She pushed it away from her. "I can't eat."

"Why not?"

"I don't know, I just...I don't have an appetite." She shrugged her shoulders, picking up the glass of water next to her to sip from it.

"Have you talked to uh, Johnny?" He felt like he betrayed himself by asking that question. Stress usually made her lose her appetite and he knew that could be her only reason for stressing out so much that it got to that point.

Her eyes quickly flickered away from him. "Not since this morning."

"Is that why," his voice had lowered significantly, "Is that why you can't eat? You're worried?"

Crossing her arms, she reluctantly lifted them in a shrug. "Maybe. I don't know." _Because the fact that you're back in my life has nothing to do with my stress_, she thought to herself. Johnny was majority of it, she gave him that. But Jason was there, too.

"Why don't you call him?" Jason wondered briefly. She would always look at her phone but never make the call.

"I don't know. I feel like, I'm distracting him. I know he has a lot to do and he'll call me whenever he gets the chance. I just," one shoulder shrugged again, "I can't be the reason he's distracted or not paying attention. I feel like something bad is going to happen if I call."

"I see." Was all he could say. The complete worry in her eyes made him feel uncomfortable.

She looked to Danny when she realized that he had nothing left to say. "Honey, are you all done?"

He looked up from the paper he was coloring on and smiled. "Almost. I'm coloring a dinosaur."

"Wow," she said, glancing at the picture, "That's so nice. Do you want me to save your food for you so you can eat it in the room later?" She gathered the things together even before getting an answer from him.

"Yes. Do they have cartoons in the room?" He asked neither of them in particular.

Jason nodded after a second of visible thought. "Yeah, they have cartoons."

He smiled and went back to coloring. "Good." He sounded relieved. "I miss cartoons."

Jason and Sam smiled at each other, their adoration for the boy mutual. "I'll go pay so we can get out of here." She told Jason, standing to her feet.

"Yeah." He nodded and went back to admiring his son's work.

Almost thirty minutes later, Sam sat on the bed watching TV with Danny as Jason took a shower. They were in South Dakota now and planned on heading out early in the morning so that they could make it to Spinelli's later that day, in time for the holiday. Danny was interested in the Tom & Jerry cartoon he was watching as he sat there eating his carrot stick with ranch from earlier. She had quickly bathed him and dressed him in some warm thermal Bob the Builder pajamas-which were his favorite things to wear to bed right now.

"Come here," she called to him when it went to commercial break. "Take a picture to send so that we can send it to Daddy."

Easily, he crawled into her lap and looked into the back of her phone as she held it up. "Smile." She mumbled through her own.

"I am." He said through his.

A genuine laugh escaped her as she pressed the button and the flash illuminated the room for a split second. She turned the phone around to inspect her work. "Good, we look great. Daddy's going to love it."

"Can I talk to Daddy?" He asked, reaching for her phone.

"Of course, Honey. Daddy's been busy but when he calls, you can talk to him." She kissed his head and hugged him close to her body. "Okay?"

"Okay." He nodded understandably before crawling back to his spot on the bed to watch TV. "Love you, Mommy."

"I love you, too, sweetie." Sam sighed as she heard the shower cut off and looked down at her phone, sending the picture to Johnny. She was relieved that Jason was done and she was closer to showering and going to bed, but she also wanted to know what was going on with her husb-supposed to be husband at home. She pushed her hair behind her ear and shook her head at the thought of him. She missed him uncontrollably. She knew that she had probably become a little too dependent on him, but she hadn't lost herself in this love and that made her even more in love with Johnny, if that was even possible. He was always there for her, put her first, he made her life as easy as possible without letting her lose herself and she did the same for him.

Her phone buzzed quickly with the reply of Johnny from her picture. **I miss those faces.**

She smiled softly as she texted back. **Are you busy?**

**Yeah, but I'll call you in a bit...Is Danny awake?**

**Yes, and he's DYING to talk to you. **She replied.

Less than thirty seconds later, her phone buzzed again. **So am I. I'll call him in five minutes...Did you take your vitamins?**

She rolled her eyes. **I'm on my way to get them from the car right now. **She lied, but she would do so right before she hopped into the shower.

**You'd better.**

She looked up at the bathroom door when she heard it open, preparing to crack some joke about using all of the hot water but her voice got lost somewhere in her throat and her mouth ran dry at the sight before her. Her eyes widened quickly before they looked away from the immaculate...shirtless...chiseled...rippled...uncannily smooth chest before her. She felt her face heat up and felt embarrassed for herself as she put the back of her hand to her cheeks, checking for the fire she felt there. She used to rest her head on that chest...rub her hands up and down that chest...kiss up and down it until she made her way to his weakness...she stopped those thoughts before they got X-rated. But yes, Jason Morgan had a weakness and she was the master of conquering it. That's what that bare chest that she'd just caught a glimpse of reminded her of. That only years ago, that chest would be wet with her butterfly kisses as she straddled him and-

"Sam!" Jason repeated for probably the fourth time before she looked up at his face.

"Yes! What!" She concentrated on his eyes and only his eyes, tilting her head high so that his broad body wasn't even in her peripheral.

"Can you pass me that T-shirt that you're sitting on?" He asked politely, but gazing at her like she was an alien of some sort.

Sam cleared her throat and stood up quickly, accidentally knocking over the water bottle that was next to her on the nightstand. It tumbled to the ground and spilled on her shoes and when she reached down to pick it up, her phone fell out of her other hand and she struggled to catch it before it crashed to the ground. Retrieving both items, she stood up straight again and chuckled nervously at him before turning around and grabbing the shirt that she had unknowingly been sitting on, but she unintentionally grabbed the blanket with it too, consequently knocking over the ranch that Danny had in a little bowl there next to his carrots, earning her a disgruntled sound from her son.

"I'm sorry, Danny." Needless to say, his shirtlessness had her in a frenzy. "So sorry." She leaned over to pick it up for him.

When she finally regained some composure and tossed Jason the shirt, he frowned at her. "Are you okay?"

"Mmmhmm." She answered quickly, her lips pressed together but spread in a wide, tight smile. "Fine." She squeaked with a nod of her head. She chucked her thumb towards the door a few times. "I need to...run to the uh, car...and get my pecks...pills! I mean pills!" She almost died, she couldn't believe that had even come out of her mouth and threw her hands up in halt. "Pills! Pills! I need pills!" She started walking towards the door, nearly tripping over the blanket she had halfway pulled from the bed.

"Are you sure," he pulled his shirt over his head quickly, "you don't want me to get them?"

"No I got it." She nodded vehemently. "I got it. I'll be...right back." She opened the door and nearly rushed out of it, closing it tightly behind her before sighing heavily. The radio had said that it was negative nine degrees but she was burning up. She couldn't believe that he had had that effect on her.

Still.

She wiped a hand over her face before walking towards the stairs, trying to erase the impure thoughts that were running through her mind. God, she needed to get some sleep. Her exhaustion was getting the best of her. It was making her into a crazy person. And she couldn't even drink coffee to subside some of this achy fatigue. She combed her hands through her hair and sighed, trying to regain some of it by just doing that. Carefully, she trekked down the stairs, the cold air on her skin felt nice and she loved the crunch of the snow beneath her boots. The air smelled like Christmas was right around the corner and this time of the year was by far her favorite. Wrapping the sweater she wore around her cold body, she crossed the small distance to their car when she saw a man near the car next to hers. At first she thought he was trying to unlock it, but as she got closer, she realized his real agenda and rolled her eyes tiredly.

She could tell by his body frame that he was probably young, in his mid-twenties at the most. He was a little taller than her but he was really slim, not a lot of meat or muscle on his bones. She could see that even though he wore a large snow coat.

"Hey, what are you doing?!" She called from behind him.

He spun around, with the long sliver of metal in his hands. He didn't try to hide it. "I locked myself out of my car. Mind your business, lady."

She knew from the hostility in his voice, he was lying. "Well my boyfriend's upstairs, he can, open it for you." Her suggestion sounded innocent and sincere. "But he's a cop, so I hope you're telling the truth." She lied with a little innocent chuckle, trying to call his bluff in a way she knew too well. She pretended to begin to turn on her heel and pointed towards the stairs. "I'll go get him."

"I said mind your business! If I needed your help then I would ask for it!" He gritted, turning back around to the car. Maybe rudeness would steer her away, he thought.

"You know what, I'm calling the cops." She warned falsely, moving to pull her phone from her pocket to scare him into running away, at least. But that was not what happened.

Without warning, he turned and swung the metal rod at her, she was lucky to back away just in time to miss it crashing into her face. But he lurched forward, back slapping her across the face and sending her crashing into the side of her own car. She held her cheek in shock and moved out of the way as he tried to punch her, sending his fist clear through the glass of the window next to Danny's car seat. That's when she took the opportunity to punch him in the side of the face, sending him flying to the ground. He hopped to his feet quickly, but she sent him to the ground again with a perfect high kick to his head. He was groaning as he purposely tripped her with his legs and she fell to the ground, landing directly onto her back with a swift thud. She let out a scared gasp of air, silently praying that her child was okay and vowing to show this guy exactly who he was messing with. He tried to make his way to her but she kicked him three times in his face and he groaned, holding his nose as he crumpled backwards and to the ground. Sam knew this was her chance to end the fight so she climbed onto him and started punching him relentlessly and after a few seconds, she realized he wasn't moving anymore and she let out a large gasp of relieved air. She glanced down at the man, his nose bleeding profusely and she felt a little bad for going so hard on him, but then again, he hit her and she was pregnant. Panting heavily, she fell off of him and to her side, wiping her hair out of her face.

Swallowing hard, she checked for a pulse and was relieved when there was one. She didn't want to murder the guy, just stop him from stealing someone's property.

"Sam!" She heard his voice from a distance. "Sam!"

She heard the footsteps coming near her as she stood to her feet. "I'm fine, I'm fine." She breathed, wincing as she held her back.

"What happened?" Jason looked down at the guy lying on the ground and then back up at her as he grabbed her shoulders. "I heard glass breaking."

"Yeah, that was us." She motioned to the window of their SUV.

He noticed the redness of her face and grabbed her chin, moving her head so he could inspect it. "Your face."

She motioned to the man on the ground. "You should see the other guy." She joked, smiling stiffly due to her burning cheek.

"What happened?" He questioned as other people started emerging from their rooms to inspect the noise they had too heard.

"He was trying to steal this car." She pointed to it. "And then he attacked me for trying to foil his plan." Moving from his grasp, she massaged her cheek and glanced up at their room. "Where's Danny?"

"I told him to stay upstairs, come on," he grabbed hold of her arm and glanced around at their growing audience, "we should leave." He whispered.

"What's going on?" Someone barked from across the lot.

"Look, I'll explain what's going on, you just, go get Danny and our things so we can get out of here. We don't need any attention." She compromised, before walking up to one of the onlookers and explaining the what had happened.

He always admired her ability to think quickly, he thought as he rushed off to get Danny and their things before heading out.

* * *

Johnny felt horrible explaining his cleaned up version of events to his family-in-law, but he had to or they would probably send out an APB for her. Running his hand through the curly, disheveled hair on his head. He let out a breath and had to look away from the hurt look on their faces. He had to admit, he cared about them a lot. They meant so much to Sam that it was impossible for them not to mean so much to him, too.

Alexis hugged Molly close to her side as tears clouded her eyes. She processed what she was told and then frowned. "So, where is she?"

Johnny tilted his head to the side as he thought of a way to answer without provoking the wrong kind of response from Alexis. She was crazy when she didn't feel like she was being told the truth. "She's okay. I promise. I wouldn't let anything happen to her. Or Danny. I just...I can't disclose where she is, I don't want to jeopardize anything and the only way to assure that is to make sure no one knows." He looked apologetic and apprehensively at her, hoping he didn't press any buttons. He was a fearless man, but the wrath of Alexis Davis was a different fear all in itself.

"No, I understand. I completely understand." Alexis said, to both Molly and Johnny's surprise. She walked up to him and put a hand to his face reassuringly, holding back an onset of tears. "Thank you, Johnny. You've always kept my daughter safe and I trust you."

He nodded softly and then looked at Molly, who seemed extremely scared and confused. And he felt horrible. He and Molly's brother-sister-in-law relationship had budded quickly. He'd always thought she was bright and smart, but she was spunky and funny, too and he enjoyed her company. "You okay?" His eyebrows rose as he gazed at her expectantly.

Molly nodded quickly. Since she was young, she understood the life of being involved with a mobster. Her sister was the product of her mother's doing so, of course. "Yeah, I'm just scared, that's all. I just, I don't want anything to happen to her or Danny."

"It won't. You know I'd die before I let anyone touch your nephew or your sister." He walked a few steps over and pulled her into a half hug. "You just keep your head up and be on the lookout for anything suspicious. Let me know if anyone bothers you two, alright." He comforted her.

"Okay." Molly looked up at the taller man, feeling a bit better. "Can we talk to her?"

He looked indecisive but then shrugged . "I'll see what I can do, kay?" She nodded and he squeezing her into one last hug before letting go and glancing at his watch. "Look, I have to be somewhere, but I'll come by to check on you guys later on tonight."

"Alright, be careful." Alexis called.

"You're still coming for Thanksgiving, right? Even though Sam's not here?" Molly asked, the answer that she wanted already hinted on her face.

He hadn't even thought about Thanksgiving, but gave a small nod. "I guess so."

"Good." She waved as he continued to walk out. "Love you!"

"You too." He waved one last time before closing the door behind him. He pulled the phone out of his pocket, checking for calls on the porch when he heard footsteps in front of him. He looked up to see Julian Jerome making his way towards him.

"Johnny." He greeted formally.

Looking suspiciously, Johnny slipped his phone back into his pocket. "Julian."

Julian's eyes squinted and he gave Johnny his own look of suspicion. "What are you doing here?"

Johnny's eyes moved around blankly before he looked back at the man in front of him. "You do know I'm married to Sam, right?"

Julian smirked slyly. "Technically…" He started.

Johnny huffed. "How the fuck do _you _know that?" He blurted in frustration.

"I'm dating her mother slash lawyer." Julian reminded tiredly. "Put it together."

Johnny rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Look, since you're here, I need you to keep an extra eye on them." He waved at the house behind him. "A lot of shit is going down and they could potentially become a target."

"Trust me, I know. Word spreads fast." He gave the taller man a knowing look. "Heard you got rid of Kovalev last night."

Johnny's eyes lowered in a deep frown. "Where the fuck did you hear that?"

"Everyone's talking about it. You've pissed off some really important people." He told him with a small grin. "If I were you, I'd be watching my back, Zacchara."

"I always watch my back." Johnny told him quickly. "But I didn't kill Kovalev."

"Oh, I know. I've had to deal with you a time or two. I don't think the way he died was quite your style." He shrugged lazily. "But someone's trying to make it look like you did it. And someone is very interested in where you and your family are."

"What are you talking about?" Johnny couldn't ignore the way his heart skipped a beat from hearing that.

"I heard that they want to hit you where it hurts. I'm guessing they're talking about Sam and Danny." He stared pointedly, as if waiting for a reaction.

Johnny rubbed a face over his hand, struggling to contain his anger. "Who said that?"

"No one in particular. It's just rumors." Julian shrugged again.

"They made a move on my family, first. Whoever it was. I'm not gonna stop until they're all fucken dead. You can put that out in the air if you want, make sure it gets back to whoever the fuck thinks they're threatening me." He gritted the words through his teeth, he could barely stand still, he was so full of rage.

"Well, fortunately, what could hurt you hurts a lot of other people too, so I can't let that happen." His jaw stiffened.

"You don't give a shit about Sam. Don't pretend to." Johnny defended her.

"Just because we don't interact doesn't mean I don't love my daughter and my grandson." He seemed to get a bit emotional. "I will protect my kids with all the power I have."

Johnny eyed him suspiciously for a second. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that I'll help you in any way you need. Two organizations are better than one, right?"

"I don't trust you. I mean, why would I?" Johnny scoffed. "I had to practically threaten your entire existence to get you to let Morgan go. What makes you so fucken trustworthy now?"

"Things have changed since then, alright? I'm not that same arrogant bastard." He gulped hard and let his eyes gradually fall to the ground. "I don't even know if I want to be in this...crap," he opted for a lack of better words, "anymore. I just...I want to spend time with the woman I love, the people I love." A small chuckle blew from his mouth as he looked back up at the dark eyed mobster. "This life is a curse isn't it? You can afford to do anything you want, everything you want. You have power and the jurisdiction of a god." He paused, stabbing his hands into the pockets of his fitted leather coat as he turned away from him. "And then you find someone you love. Someone that loves you and depends on you, _needs_ you...and all the money, the power...it's useless. Because all you want is them. And that's the one thing this lifestyle won't let you have comfortably."

Johnny was rendered speechless as the man spoke his exact feelings. "I...uh...I know what you mean."

Julian turned to look at Johnny again. "Then why are you still in?"

Johnny wasn't going to explain his life to this man. "It's complicated."

Julian gave him a pained look. "Look, for the sake of my daughter, I'm warning you. Get out before you're too old and bitter to have a life. Or worse, before you're not even around to be old and bitter." He stepped closer. "You've got it all right now, Johnny. A wife and a kid that loves you. I see the way Sam looks at you, like you're the only other person in the world. Don't lose it for the sake of this fucked up business."

He was right, Johnny knew it, but he didn't want him to be. He didn't want these words coming from this man. He didn't want this to be what he would be if he didn't listen to his advice. "My family's known for being in the mob. This is what my family is."

"No, _was_. Your father _was_. Claudia _was_. And look where they are now." He said passionately, referring to them being dead. "You," he pointed to his chest, "You don't have to be."

His brows lowered and he shifted his weight and sighed. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Sam's had a fucked up life." He told him quietly.

"In part, thanks to you." Johnny added.

"It doesn't matter. The fact is that she's happy now. I want it to stay that way." He nodded in finality. "I'll see you around."

"Yeah, see you around." Johnny didn't look to enthusiastic about doing so.

"And Johnny, keep an eye on Sam. I'm pretty sure they're gonna try and hit you hard. A lot harder than I think you can handle."

He swallowed and then looked back over his shoulder maliciously. "I've got it under control."

Julian only wished he could somehow share the look that he just got from Johnny with the people that were trying to mess with him. If they saw that, maybe they would have second thoughts. "See ya." He gulped.

Now Johnny was more concerned than ever. And he wanted to be near them, next to them, he felt naked knowing that someone wanted to hurt them to get to him and he wasn't physically there to protect them. He cupped his hands over his mouth and took a deep breath before wiping his hands through his hair for the three thousandth time that day. Anger ran through his veins like blood and he couldn't wait around much longer. He needed to end this, find the Ivanov's, find out where the Cassadine's were and take them all out, no questions asked.

* * *

Jason glanced over at her for the hundredth time. "Are you sure you're okay?"

She sighed with a roll of her eyes. "Jason, I'm fine. You know a little scuffle in the snow can't kill me."

"I know, but...you're pregnant." It always took extra effort for him to say it. "He didn't hit you anywhere in your-"

"No, I'm fine." She sighed. "I'm perfectly fine." Glancing back at Danny, she smirked. "You know, we can just drive straight through the night if you want, Danny's knocked out cold."

"We need to stop and get the window fixed." For now, Sam had taped a plastic bag over the busted window. It was sealed pretty tight and barely any cold air was seeping through.

"Yeah." Sam thought about the previous events. "I guess the original hard luck kids are back in business, huh?"

"What do you mean?" He wondered aloud.

"I mean, I've been living this carefree, quiet life and the moment you come back, bam, there's all this action." She was smiling, inspite of how sad it was that that was only a past life. "I mean, it's only right. We never were made for the smooth life. We were always going through something."

He nodded slowly, she was right. All of their "carefree" times had been short lived. "That was our thing, wasn't it? Action, excitement…"

"Yeah, but we did used to get a rush from all of that...craziness. Adventure." She reminisced, looking out of the window with a nostalgic smile.

Jason didn't respond right away. "I thought we weren't doing that."

She looked over at him, confused, her smile instantly dropped. "Doing what?"

"Remembering." He whispered.

She nodded softly. "You're right. I'm sorry."

It was quiet for a while before he cleared his throat. "So what happened with the whole marriage thing? Why are we still married?" Another unsolved issue that they had yet to talk about. They were good at something else now, avoiding important topics.

Sam blushed slightly before shrugging. "Maxie was supposed to turn in the papers for me, but just like Maxie would, she got sidetracked and she never did." She looked at his face trying to read his reaction. "I found out when you did."

"Why would you leave something like that to Maxie?" He scoffed softly, almost heartlessly. It was a sting to the chest that they were even talking about this in a casual manner.

She avoided looking at him. "I couldn't...I don't know...I just couldn't."

He understood. "Oh. Sorry."

"Yeah." She chuckled humorlessly. After another brief silence, she looked over at him. "Jason, I'm so sorry."

"For what?" He furrowed his brows as he glimpsed at her.

"For everything. For moving on without trying to find you. For just...for just giving up." She sighed apologetically. "I'm sorry that this is what you came back to. I wish…" She trailed off.

"You wish, what?" He pressed, hoping for a certain kind of answer.

She hesitated. "I wish that there was a way for me to make you happy. I wish that there was something I could do to help you or make you...feel better."

Those words were a blow to the gut. "You can't." He said simply.

"I know." She whispered, looking down at her lap. "I know."

They sat in silence for a few moments before her phone started to vibrate on the dashboard. She leaned forward and answered it quickly, already knowing who it was. "Hello?"

"Hey." Johnny's voice sounded gruff and irritated. "What are you doing?"

"What's wrong?" Immediately, she could tell that something was bothering him.

He took a minute before speaking again. "Are you okay?"

She was caught off guard by his direct run around her question and wondered if he knew about what had happened with her earlier. "What, why would you ask me that?"

"Why do we keep answering questions with other questions?" He spat distractedly, a lifeless chortle bustling past his lips.

Her frown deepened as she glanced at Jason, wondering if maybe he'd told him about her run in with the car thief. "Johnny, what's wrong?"

"I'm just worried about you guys." He sighed heavily.

"Why?" She was so frustrated that she couldn't be there to read his expressions or comfort him.

"I dunno. I think somebody's just fucking with me." He sniffed and let out another sigh. "Where are you?"

"Driving through South Dakota." She answered.

"Driving? I thought you guys were in a motel?" He remembered from the picture earlier.

"Yeah, we ran into a little complication so…" She didn't really want to tell him what happened, especially since he was already on edge.

"What? What happened?" His agitation was soaring through the roof. The worry weighed down on him even more. "Sam, what happened?!"

"Nothing serious, I just had a little...altercation with some car thief...guy...in the parking lot so we left before the cops got involved, we didn't want any attention drawn to us." She explained as best she could, sparing the details.

He loved that she had avoided the cops, especially after what he'd found out earlier, he didn't need anything out and about in the world about her right now, but his mind didn't have time to revel in that due to the news she had just shared. "An altercation? What the fuck? Did this guy hurt you?" He was combing a hand through his hair, trying to fight the urge to throw the heavy desk he was sitting at over.

"Johnny, no, no, I'm fine. You do know who you married, don't you? I've been known to knock out a guy or two in my time." She smiled as she tried to lighten the mood.

"Trust me, I know that, but you're pregnant. You don't need to be knocking out any guys." He wiped a hand over his face, he didn't need to know this. He was two seconds away from flying to where she was and killing anyone who even looked at her wrong. "Where the hell was Jason while you were _altercating _with this guy?!"

"He was upstairs with Danny!" She answered defensively. "I'd gone downstairs to get my vitamins from the car when it happened, but I'm fine!" She glanced at her bruised knuckles, deciding to leave that and the part about her bruised face out of the conversation.

Johnny raked his hair back again. _Of course Jason would send a pregnant Sam in the blistering cold in the middle of the night to get her own medicine_, he thought. "Why the fuck would he let _you_ do it?" He said heatedly. He was used to taking care of her, making her life as easy as possible, watching over her, especially since she was having his child.

Sam had rarely ever heard Johnny this way, and she'd never heard him this way with her. "Because I'm not an invalid!" She gritted as her voice rose, growing angry.

Johnny took a breath, he needed to calm down. She didn't deserve to get this side of him. He wasn't mad at her, in fact, she was doing everything she could to ease his worries even though she didn't want to. "Fuck," He breathed out, realizing his faults, "Sam, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, I just…"

"What's going on? Tell me." She lowered her voice to a caring, pleading tone.

Rubbing the bridge of his nose and closing his eyes, he sighed yet again. "Fucking Kovalev is dead. Someone killed him right after he left my office and now it looks like I did it."

"So someone's framing you?" She said worried, her face paling.

"No, someone tried to. Luckily, I was with Patrick as soon as Kovalev left and he's my alibi. But someone tried to frame me and I think that's only the beginning."

She covered her mouth. "Oh my god. Johnny I have to-"

"You're not coming home." He stopped her. He knew her enough to know exactly what she was about to say. "The only thing that's keeping me together right now is the fact that you and Danny are nowhere near this shit." He picked up a pen from his desk and clicked it a few times before tossing it across the room. He wiped a hand over his face and then pushed it through his hair. "Where is Danny? Is he asleep?"

"Yeah." She breathed sadly. She'd never felt so helpless. She wanted to help him, ease his worries. "So what do you think is going to happen?"

"Well legally, nothing. The police can't prove that I went anywhere near him after he left, but I ran into your dear old dad and he promptly informed me that the Kovalev organization-and many others-are firm believers that I am the culprit."

She frowned in confusion. "How does _he _know?" She wondered.

"Word spreads fast in this business." He noted. "But I'm pretty sure it's the fucking Cassadine's that did this for this exact purpose. And since they were willing to use Kovalev as a prop in their little scheme, I'm more certain than ever that the Ivanov organization are the one's I'm after. There is no way they would kill the boss of the organization that's helping them try to pull this little takeover." He paused. "I make my move tomorrow."

Her stomach sunk with dread. "God, Johnny. I can't-are you-should you even be saying that out loud. What if they can hear you? What if they're watching you?"

"Then if I were them, I'd be scared." He said in an icy cold tone.

Sam swallowed back the lump in her throat. "I don't like this."

"You and me, both, sweetheart." He whispered, combing his hand through his hair. "How're you feeling?" His voice was raspy and strained, sad.

"I'm fine." She assured.

"Are you sure that prick didn't hurt you?" He asked in concern, his voice raising to a higher octave.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I took him down in about three seconds." She exaggerated.

He chuckled a bit. "Remind me to never piss you off." He teased with a soft laugh. "Can you wake Danny up for me? I just want to hear his voice." He had to, just in case he never got to hear it again. Because he knew that he wasn't going to stop no matter what happened, until it was safe for his family to come home.

"Yeah, hold on." She removed her seatbelt and turned in her seat.

"What are you doing?" Jason questioned quietly.

"Letting him talk to Danny." She explained with a small, guilty smile. She put the phone to his ear and shook him lightly. "Danny…" She sang his name, trying to stir him from sleep. "Honey…"

"Mommy?" He was still asleep as he mumbled her name.

"Baby, someone wants to talk to you." She couldn't bring herself to call him his dad in front of Jason, still. She turned the phone to speaker. "Just talk, he's not waking up."

"Danny boy!" Johnny spoke loud, his voice echoing throughout the car like it did when he walked into his room almost every morning with the same greeting.

Danny's eyes popped open. "Daddy! Love you, Daddy…" And just like that, they were closing again, as he slurred the last word he spoke.

Johnny chuckled. "I love you too, buddy!"

Sam laughed softly when Danny didn't answer. "Aww, he went back to sleep." She told him, twisting back around in her seat and taking the phone off of speaker.

Johnny's joyous smile faded as he realized that he couldn't kiss him goodnight. "I miss him."

"He misses you, too."

"He looked so adorable in that picture you sent." He smiled at the thought. "And you were looking as gorgeous as always."

"Well, thank you." She almost blushed. "You know, you can send pictures, too."

"Ah, maybe I will. You know, I'm not opposed to...private pictures, if you aren't." His voice lowered seductively.

Sam clamped her hand over her mouth to contain her laughter. "You are not asking me that."

"No, I'm just shittin' around." He brushed it off and then paused before adding, "Unless you really want to." His stomach turned with happiness at the sound of her melodious laughter.

Biting back her bottom lip as her laugh simmered to a grin, "I'll see what I can do." She purred.

"Oooh, I like the sound of that." He was obviously smirking from ear to ear and realized how fast his bad mood had dissipated from talking to her. It was beautiful and depressing at the same time.

"You need to sleep." She told him sadly.

"Not right now. I need to listen to you talk for a little bit. I'll sleep when I die." He chuckled and then kicked his feet up on his desk. "Tell me about your day."

Jason just drove, wishing there was some way he could block out the sound of them talking like two lovesick teenagers in his ears. He knew she didn't want to be this cold and heartless towards him, she kept looking at him apologetically but she was happy and she didn't know how to contain it and he didn't know how to personally hold her responsible for that. Listening to them and watching her blush every now and then, watching the smile that would not leave her face, you would think that they had just met, like they were in their honeymoon phase.

He glanced at Danny, the only sanity he still had was back there in that car seat. It was bittersweet really. He'd signed up for this, excited about the time he would get to spend with Danny and even Sam, but this had turned out to be the most exciting and torture filled trip of his life all wrapped up in one.

"Look," Johnny started after talking about nothing and everything with her for a while, "I love you with everything I have. Every move I make is for us."

Sam felt the comfort of his words sheath her. "Johnny, I know."

"Well I have to go make arrangements with the guys, to let them know what's going on. I'll call you as soon as its over." He told her soothingly, hoping to ease the concern he heard in her.

"Please do." She begged.

"I love you." He told her calmly.

Her smile was sad and joyous at the same time. "And I love you."

"Kiss Danny for me." He said. "I'll talk to you soon."

"Okay." And with that, they hung up.

Jason couldn't help but feel sympathy for her. She was suffering and trying to hide it from him everyday so that his feelings were spared. But he saw through it and her attempts at concealing her ache were in vain. He knew when she was hurt, he knew what it looked like, what her voice sounded like when she was hopeless. The only difference was that he couldn't console her now, he wasn't that guy anymore.

"I think I'm going to pull over. I'm exhausted." His eyes were closing but he also preferred that she rest in a bed, too.

"I could drive…" She offered.

"You're exhausted, too. And you need to sleep comfortably." He motioned his head towards her belly.

"What is it with you and Johnny thinking that I need special treatment because I'm one month pregnant? Some people don't even know that they're pregnant at this time." She laughed softly.

"We're just trying to look out for you." He noted. "We care what happens to the baby. And to you."

She didn't argue with that and turned away from him to hide the yawn that was fighting it's way through her. "Fine, I guess we can stop at the next motel."

"Good."

* * *

He inspected his hand and made a fist before stretching his fingers out and then repeating the movement several times. A smile grew on his mouth as he looked back at his mother. "I am one-hundred percent." He grunted. "Or at least close to it. Why was it that Jason Morgan was able to regain the use of his bodily functions so quickly but not I?"

Helena rolled her eyes. "Stavros, Dear. You've been immobile for over ten years. Be thankful you're alive."

"I am thankful. But I'm also impatient, Mother." He turned in the swivel chair he was resting in and smiled at her.

"In due time, dear." She sighed. "Focus on becoming strong again before we snatch Port Charles right from under those sickening sell outs that call themselves Cassadine's." Half of her vendetta was against her so-called family.

His thick brow cocked at her. "I sense a grave deal of hostility."

She didn't answer verbally, but looked to the door when she heard it open. In walked Victor with an unknown guest and she visibly showed her distrust for the man. "Who is he?" Her voice was stern and cold as she stood up from her chair.

"Maxim Baskov." Victor smirked. "He works for the Ivanov empire. He's come to fill you in on the Zacchara organization and what you need to know if you're planning on taking over."

Maxim smirked as he nodded his head. "It is no secret that he loves his family."

"That's a given. We're the ones who told you to attack him where it hurts from the very beginning. To weaken his resolve. Wound him so that the initial kill would be like stealing candy from a baby." Stavros rolled his eyes and turned to fully face their visitor. "Tell me something that I'm not already fully aware of."

"They're missing. I believe he hid them somewhere because of your initial order to get rid of them." Maxim looked clearly as if he disapproved of that order. "There is no trace of them anywhere in the New York area."

"Oooh, this Zacchara guy is smart." Stavros smirked, he seemed intrigued. And then, like a dead fly, his smile dropped. "Find them." His icy voice sent a ratty vibration through the small room.

"That has been our recent objective. But we don't know where to begin." Maxim swallowed hard, beginning to fear for his life at the stare he was receiving from the Russian Prince.

"You lost people? Actual people?" Helena asked, stunned by the stupidity she was hearing. "Why weren't you trailing her every move since one of your men ran her off the road?"

"Because we thought she had died." He quickly replied, trying to hide the shiver in his voice.

Stavros glanced at Victor. "This is who you hire to do our dirty work? Amateurs?"

"I suppose you think you would be better at this job." Victor pursed his lips.

"I suppose." Stavros smirked evilly. "How does this...Zacchara woman look? Maybe after I am fully healed I can find her. And their son…" He gave Maxim a challenging look, screaming silently that he would undoubtedly do a better job.

Maxim dug into the inside pocket of his coat quickly and pulled out folded pictures, handing them to Stavros. "This is their son, too."

"Which is really Jason Morgan's son." Helena reminded her son as he stared at the pictures.

Victor's eyes narrowed. "I thought I sent Jason Morgan back into the picture so that Johnny Zacchara would lose focus? Get distracted?" He stared accusingly down at Maxim. "You're telling me I gave you two chances at distracting Zacchara and you've executed...none?"

"Apparently, Zacchara's wife wasn't confused at all. We believe she left with Morgan." Maxim informed.

Stavros bit his lip as he eyes laid upon the picture of Sam. He couldn't deny the stir he felt looking at her. "She is a part of our family, right?" When his mother nodded, he shook his head. "What a shame. She's stunning." His eyes held a wicked twist as he refolded the photos. "Perhaps we could spare her. Offer her a position in our impending reign." He ignored his mother's knowing look. "Killing Zacchara should be enough."

"She is not your average mob wife." Maxim explained, recalling the stories. "She is highly dangerous herself."

Stavros was even more interested. "What do you expect? She's got that Cassadine blood running through her veins. I bet she's a wild one." His words held more meaning than one.

Helena frowned. "She is related to you for god's sake, son. Don't even think about it."

Stavros frowned exaggeratedly. "I'm not!" He feigned appal. "But obviously the Ivanov's are doing nothing to find her. They let her slip right between their fingers." His eyes bulged crazily as he stood up, staring directly at their guest. "I'm better for the job." He said sternly.

Victor scoffed, finally taking a seat in the chair behind Maxim. "You can barely move your fingers!"

"I should be completely healed in days." He answered without missing a beat. And then he paused as he rose his chin confidently. "I don't want her dead."

Maxim hesitantly rose a finger. "Since the head of the Kovalev organization was killed, it is believed that Johnny did so, so they do plan on seeking revenge by killing his entire family."

Stavros rolled his eyes. "Mother, what a lovely plan that was." He spoke quickly and sarcastically. "I will deal with them. Just leave. The girl. To me." He begged his mother's permission pointedly.

Helena seemed disgusted, but shrugged after a short while. "Do what you wish. As long as things go according to the way I've planned."

He smiled tightly, looking back at Maxim. "I guess we won't be needing you anymore."

Maxim didn't note the literal tone of his comment and nodded. "Glad I could be of assistance."

"Trust me, you weren't." Stavros watched him walking away and nodded his head at Victor knowingly.

Victor stood up and easily pulled out his gun as Maxim turned to look back. The quickest flash of fear flashed across his face before the silenced shot when off, soaring into the forehead of Maxim and sending him toppling to the ground.

Stavros grinned and sat back in his seat. "I'll show her the perks of being a Cassadine. She'll want in." He spoke to no one in particular. His dark eyes lowered as his evil thoughts consumed him.

"Typical Stavros." Victor muttered to himself. "We can't keep killing people. The Ivanov empire will turn against us."

Stavros turned to look at Victor with a slick smile. "I thought we were blaming all casualties on Johnny Zacchara?"

Victor shrugged, accepting the idea. "I guess."

"Good guess. Now, let's drop this body off somewhere convenient." He waved a hand towards Victor. "Come on, Uncle. You're the one with all the strength."

Victor was getting a little upset with Stavros and his demands. After all, he was supposed to be the one in charge. Not his hot headed nephew. Reluctantly, he tucked his gun away and stood up. "I can't wait until you're back in tip top shape."

Stavros was already staring at the picture of Sam. "Neither can I." He spoke sadistically.

* * *

Sam was awakened by the sound of Jason's grunting and rubbed her eyes before lifting up to see him across from her on the other bed. "Jason," she called his name softly and watched as he struggled against nothing, similar to the last time that he was having this nightmare.

She pulled the blanket off of her softly, the cold night stinging her bare legs. She had been too tired to look for her long, fleece pajama pants and had settled for a pair of gray, short tights that she used to work out in and the white tank top she'd had on all day under her sweater. Quietly, as not to wake Danny she padded to the other bed, reaching down to hold his arm.

"Jason, wake up. Come on." Her other hand rubbed at his cheek. "Jason." His eyes popped opened and her heart broke when she saw the gleam of unshed tears. "Jason…" She said helplessly, a hand coming up to put a hand over her heart, which was breaking into a million pieces at the sight of him.

"Sam?" His voice shook.

She wasn't sure she'd ever heard him sound that way before. She kneeled down beside him. "Are you okay?"

Looking up at the ceiling, he blinked back the tears and nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"No you're not." She whispered back, grabbing onto his hand. "Maybe talking about it will help."

He looked over at her for a long time before sighing. "I…" He paused, not sure this was what he really wanted.

"Tell me." She pleaded.

He swallowed. "I could see someone...they were tying me down to a table." He put a hand over his eyes, the darkness fittingly helped him to remember the dark time. "And even after everything went black, I could still hear them, feel them around me...poking me with needles and…"

She climbed over him and laid next to him, never letting go of his hand. "Oh my god, Jason." She said snuggling up next to him. "Who was it? It wasn't Robin?"

"No, no. Not at first." He shook his head. "They were experimenting some new drug that they'd created. They were trying to revive me, but I wasn't dead." He looked over, almost overwhelmed with how close her mouth to his. His eyes dropped to the tempting flesh as he spilled his deepest secrets. "At least not at first."

She frowned, looking confused. "What do you mean, not at first?"

"In order for the serum to work, I had to die." He told her quietly, his eyes moving up to meet hers.

"So...why'd they need Robin?" She wasn't sure she wanted to hear this story anymore. She was angry and if she ever came into contact with any of the Cassadine's that did this to them, she'd make sure they were so dead that they couldn't come back.

"Because they couldn't perfect it. Something kept going wrong." He felt her breath on his face and chills ran up his spine. He needed her.

"Wait, they were using you as some kind of test subject to make sure that the serum worked on Helena and Stavros?" She said, appalled.

"Yes, I guess. So I was in and out of death the whole time. I was…" His words stopped as he closed his eyes, the memories were flooding him.

Sam's eyes welled with tears. "Jason, oh my god, I'm so sorry. If I would have known, I would have come for you. I wouldn't have stopped until I found you." Her voice went hoarse and she looked up as tears bubbled from her eyes, she swiped them away quickly.

"Hey, hey," he cooed, putting a hand to her face and making her look at him again. "I didn't want you anywhere near those people. They're crazy and I'm happy you were here, taking care of Danny." He couldn't dare himself to say that he was happy she was here falling in love with Johnny.

"But you went through so much, Jason, I just feel like I should have known." She cried, running a hand over her hair to brush it out of her teary face.

Jason wiped a thumb over her lips, which were wet with tears. "There was no way for you to know." He was frowning, but only because it hurt him to watch her hurt.

"No, Jason, I should've been able to tell that something was wrong. No one ever could ever find your body and I knew that you were still out there, I should have never given up." She closed her eyes as his thumb ran along her jaw softly. "I should have known."

His crystal blue eyes studied her face silently before spoke. "Maybe it all happened for a reason." He told her.

And suddenly the moment came down on her like a bunch of bricks. She realized that he was too close, his touches were too intimate and she loved Johnny too much to be here doing anything inappropriate. She cautiously moved his hand from her face and cleared her throat, her eyes darting anywhere but towards his. "Maybe you're right." Awkwardly, she scooted away from him to put some much needed distance between them.

He pretended not to notice, but he did. Her loyalty for Johnny made him jealous and proud at the same time. He was happy that she had found the strength to be able to give herself to a man like that again. "Johnny makes you happy, doesn't he?"

Sam hesitated before nodding. "Yes."

"That's good." Was all he said before shifting onto his back to look up at the ceiling again. "That's good."

Sam sighed after a small while. "Jason, I'm-"

"I know, you're sorry." He said it before she could. "I believe you."

She stared at the side of his face for a while. "It wasn't fair for me to ask you to stop remembering what we had."

"It doesn't matter, it's not like I could stop anyway." He laughed softly. "I can just stop bringing it up to you." He turned to look at her and his eyes narrowed a bit. "But what are you scared of?"

She shook her head and shrugged, a jagged breath leaving her mouth. "I don't know. I haven't thought about it. I guess I'm scared of how confused I'll be, because I'm already confused."

"What do you mean?" He questioned, unconsciously rubbing his bare arms. It was almost like he could still feel the shackles that had bound him down not too long ago.

"You and I, we didn't break up because you hurt me or because you we couldn't see eye to eye...I thought you were gone and never coming back. I didn't have a chance to hope I wouldn't run into you at the metrocourt or see you at a Christmas party. I didn't have to heal after watching you move on with somebody else...you were just...gone." She put he hands on her head, tangling her fingers in her hair as she turned to look up again. "I went through a grieving process that didn't prepare me for any of this."

"Yeah." Was all he could say.

"And you...you were just hoping to come back to me." She cried softly, wiping the tears from under her eyes. "To come back to what we were."

"You were the only thing I've ever been sure of in my life." He revealed truthfully.

She didn't know what to say to that and looked over at him again. "I'm sorry." She wanted to address the Danny situation. She knew there were issues and she knew that Danny deserved to know the truth. "I'm going to tell Danny the truth."

"Why? It'll just confuse him now."

"Or maybe it won't. He's smart. If anything, he'll love that he has fathers that love him so much." She sounded like she was wishful thinking. Maybe in a way, she was. She wanted the guilt out of her, even though it felt impossible.

"He's only three." Jason sounded bitter.

"Yeah, but it's not right." She sounded hypocritical to herself. "It wasn't right to do this."

There was a pause before Jason responded. "Why...why did you choose to not tell him who I was?"

Sam sat up for that question, the guilt that she felt would never go away. It was there even before he'd come back and now it was just worse. "I just…" She stopped and put her hands over her face, trying to block some of the pain. "I used to. I used to tell him all the time who you were. Ever since the day you went missing, I would show him pictures and tell him stories. I was gonna raise him like that." Her smile was sad as she stared off into space, remembering. "I was going to raise him to know you and who you were. How great you were." Her pause was drawn out and full of suspense. "And then, one day, we were at the park," she looked over at him, "Johnny was with us. And Danny fell...he fell off the slide and some lady helped him up before we could get to him." She pressed her lips together as tears ran down her cheeks. "And Danny was just beginning to say words, you know? He was already saying 'Mama' and 'baba'. And I had been trying to teach him to say Daddy to your pictures," a painful sob ripped through her like the enemy it was. She hunched a bit as the pain gnawed at the middle of her body. Her hand instinctively covered the emotional ache. "And the lady, she handed him to Johnny and she said, 'go to Daddy'."

Looking down at Jason, she broke down for a few seconds before regaining composure. "And, and through all the tears and crying, Danny reached out to Johnny and he said it. He said 'Da Da'. And he wouldn't stop saying it. Every time he saw Johnny, it was 'Dada'." Sniffing wildly, she shook her head. "And I couldn't take that from him. I couldn't take that from Danny. I know its selfish and it's not right, but...but I wanted him to have that." Her restraint broke as she cried into her hands. "And I feel guilty about it everyday. Everyday."

Jason understood her and where she was coming from, no matter how much he didn't want to. He sat up, pulling her into his arms even though she fought the embrace a little. All he could do was imagine that moment and how heartbroken she must have been. How torn she must have felt and how hard it must have been for her. "Sam, shhh. I understand." He murmured, rubbing her head with his hand and pressing his lips to the top of her head. "It's okay."

Sam cried onto his black tank top covered chest until she fell asleep.


End file.
